Intelligence have been an ethical issue of concern in several states. It is thought that women who abuse drugs like alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, among others do endanger the life of the unborn child. The use of drugs while pregnant has made women to be charged in courts of law on the grounds of child neglect, abuse, endangerment, mistreatment, reckless injury, among others. In this paper I will look on whether hospitals should be carrying out drug addiction tests on pregnant women without seeking their permission.
Testing pregnant women for drug abuse is a negative right if done without their consent. But, also the medics should not do it even if given the consent as a way of providing evidence in a legal setting. The medics should request for consent for the sole purpose of providing better and customized healthcare services to the mother and the child. The goal should be to improve the health of the child and the mother (Pulatie K, 2008).
If the testing is done without consent, then the issue will be infringing on individual privacy. This can be a case that can cost the medics a lot of dollars as it will be argued that they have violated the constitutional rights of the citizen. The citizens, pregnant women included, have a right to privacy, and thus as Kant says, “for every right has a correlative duty.” It is the duty of the medics to ensure the patients privacy is not violated (DeVille K, 1998).
On utilitarian ground the testing can be done even without the consent of the patient as one will only need to consider the happiness of the many. In this case, if the child will be born with deformities, pre-term birth and delayed development due to prenatal substance abuse, then the child will be a great burden to the many. Think of the amount of resources the nation will spend in terms of providing special needs of the child that include education, social services and future medication. Mill says, “happiness if the final good.” Therefore, it is necessary to think of what the action will result to (Trident University Library, n.d.).
In conclusion, testing pregnant women for drug addiction without permission is illegal. Like other tests, pregnant women consent should be sought and if granted the outcome of the test should be only used for medication purposes only.
