Content area
Full text
Informed Consent -- The Angela Carder Case
Lindsay Marie Carder, delivered at approximately twenty-six weeks gestation by court ordered cesarean section, died on 16 June 1987 within hours of her birth. Her mother, Angela, died two days later of cancer she had been battling for years. This birth and death began a four year court challenge which ended in November 1990, with a decision which may help to protect many other mothers from medical interventions which are against their wishes.
The civil rights and medical malpractice case against George Washington University (GWU) was the first of its kind in the United States. Angela Carder's parents challenged a hospital's request for court involvement in treatment of a pregnant woman. This case ensures that a similar problem will not occur at George Washington University Medical Center and, hopefully, sets guidelines for hospitals across the country.
Facts of the case
Carder had fought cancer for many years when, at twenty-five weeks into her pregnancy, a tumor was discovered in her lung. Without consulting her family, the hospital petitioned the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to decide what GWU should do in the interest of her fetus, specifically whether to intervene and attempt to save the baby. Carder's physicians had informed the hospital that they intended to honor the patient's wishes to keep her comfortable while she died (which was expected within the next forty-eight hours) and not perform an immediate cesarean section. The patient, her husband, mother and physicians agreed to this course of action. Over the family's strong objections, the court ordered delivery of the fetus. A three judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied a motion to stay the order of the...