Apr 8, 2024 08:06 PM
https://www.thefp.com/p/mass-general-bri...-maternity
EXCERPTS: Last Tuesday, Mass General Brigham announced it will stop reporting to child welfare officials suspected incidents of abuse or neglect solely because a fetus or a newborn is exposed to drugs.
The Boston health network’s new policy also requires written consent for testing of any expectant woman or infant outside of emergency situations. It also limits testing to circumstances where results “will change the medical management of the pregnant person or infant.”
What to do about fetal exposure to drugs is a hard problem. Doctors want and need to help without frightening patients away; generally they should involve state child welfare authorities only as a last resort.
But grappling with this tension was not the motive behind the new policy. Instead, the changes were made in the name of social justice, or “health equity.”
[...] drug testing shouldn’t be equally applied across groups; it should be driven by the circumstances of each individual patient.
And if Black babies are indeed exposed to drugs—and health professionals detect it—personnel can fast-track their mothers to treatment and vital social support.
[...] The Mass General Brigham policy revision comes at a time when social justice is infecting medicine and public health. ... These clinical considerations flow from the politics of group identity, not from the best interests of individual patients—which is the north star of medical ethics... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Last Tuesday, Mass General Brigham announced it will stop reporting to child welfare officials suspected incidents of abuse or neglect solely because a fetus or a newborn is exposed to drugs.
The Boston health network’s new policy also requires written consent for testing of any expectant woman or infant outside of emergency situations. It also limits testing to circumstances where results “will change the medical management of the pregnant person or infant.”
What to do about fetal exposure to drugs is a hard problem. Doctors want and need to help without frightening patients away; generally they should involve state child welfare authorities only as a last resort.
But grappling with this tension was not the motive behind the new policy. Instead, the changes were made in the name of social justice, or “health equity.”
[...] drug testing shouldn’t be equally applied across groups; it should be driven by the circumstances of each individual patient.
And if Black babies are indeed exposed to drugs—and health professionals detect it—personnel can fast-track their mothers to treatment and vital social support.
[...] The Mass General Brigham policy revision comes at a time when social justice is infecting medicine and public health. ... These clinical considerations flow from the politics of group identity, not from the best interests of individual patients—which is the north star of medical ethics... (MORE - missing details)