Virtual Mentor. September 2007, Volume 9, Number 9: 630-634.

Ethics Poll

Accountability of pregnant women and gamete donors to offspring

The Ethics Poll is a snapshot of the opinions of interested readers.

It has been shown that giving antiretrovirals along with a detailed treatment plan to pregnant women with HIV/AIDS reduces the rate of transmission to their infants to about 2.5 percent. Given this information, many people believe that HIV testing should be mandatory in pregnant women who present for prenatal care. Do you think women should:
Be told of their physician's intent to test them for HIV and given the option to refuse testing.
Be told of the benefits of prenatal testing but have to opt-in to the testing.
Not be told of the HIV/AIDS test specifically, but tested for it when they consent to the normal prenatal blood work.

People should be allowed to donate gametes (sperm or eggs) anonymously, that is, with the proviso that identifying, non-health related information (known to the gamete "banking" facility) will not be revealed to the offspring.
Agree.
Disagree.

New mothers should be liable for civil action (e.g., neglect, endangerment) on behalf of their impaired newborn if the impairment can be decisively attributed to their (fill in the blank) while pregnant. (Choose all that apply)
Smoking.
Drinking.
Use of illegal drugs.
Use of legal drugs.
Poor nutrition.
Lack of prenatal care.
Risk taking behaviors, e.g., skydiving.
Mothers should not be liable for civil action taken on behalf of their impaired offspring.

View results
Poll results reflect the opinions of visitors to the site who voluntarily answer the poll questions. Those visitors do not represent a random sample of our readers. The viewpoints expressed on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the AMA.