Browsing by Author "Lotz, Jan Willem"
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- ItemAn evaluation of ethical problems related to hypoxic ischemic brain injury in neonates born in South African state institutions(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Lotz, Jan Willem; Hall, Susan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Thousands of South African children die or are physically and cognitively permanently impaired during birth due to a recurring pattern of professional negligence in state institutions. South African high courts persistently award large sums of money to plaintiffs for what is often described in judgements as gross or criminal professional negligence. This aberration in South Africa's health care delivery is in a downward spiral with no perceptible attempt from the health care bureaucracy to identify and address the root causes of what could be pronounced a national catastrophe. The thesis evaluates the moral status of the term fetus in the intrauterine environment, concluding that it is equal to the moral status of the newborn infant in terms of a separation-survivability point, which is perceived as a morally significant milestone. At about 25 weeks gestational age, the gradual development of the prenatal human being reaches the stage where it can survive separation from its mother, should it be born alive at that point. This radically alters pre-personal moral significance: since there is no justifiable moral basis for differentiation between a specific (healthy) neonate and a specific (normal) viable fetus in the last weeks of pregnancy, these entities, the same human being in different phases of development, are entitled to equal treatment. Once established that the moral status of the term fetus in the intrauterine environment is equal to the newborn infant, it follows that under Section 24 of the Bill of Rights of the Republic of South Africa, the term fetus has a right to an intrauterine environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being and the Constitution should protect them from the scourge of professional negligence during labour. The Constitutional Court of the land should uphold this right.