Dr. Montgomery Shepherd appeared on the scene of the show at the very end of the first season where she confronted her ex husband for cheating on her. While that was her primary focus for a while on the show, she did get offered a job at what was then, Seattle Grace Hospital, as the head of the OBGYN and Neonatal Surgery Department.
While many of Dr. Montgomery Shepherd's cases got screen time, I vividly remember one where the mother had to deliver her baby three weeks before full term, or else she was going to die. Addison explained and argued with the mother that if she delivered the baby, it wouldn't survive because it wasn't viable at that point in the pregnancy. If delivered, and survived, it would be at extremely high risk for brain injuries and heart difficulties.
Just as we learning in the physical development of a fetus, the organs only start growing at about 9 weeks and only fully finish a week or two before the mother and baby have reached full term. We can learn a lot from Dr. Montgomery Shepherd, and I would like to ask you all, HOW DO YOU THINK MORAL DEVELOPMENT TIES INTO THE DECISION THE MOTHER HAD TO MAKE?
This was such an interesting blog post, Sophie! It's probably one of the most difficult decisions to make, and I sincerely hope that it doesn't happen often. The moral aspects of the situation are quite interesting. First of all, did she end up having the baby? Second of all, the question as to if she should have the baby is difficult for me to wrap my head around, because how do you know? If she did decide to have the baby, would Kholberg believe that the mother was in the post-conventional stage because she believed that life is more important than living with deficiencies? If she didn't have the baby, perhaps she was in the conventional stage because she thought people would think badly of her if she let the baby live with severe problems. Tough question!
ReplyDeleteI think moral decisions like that are all about what you feel inside. How you where brought up affects that. People who were brought up that life isnt that important might inside believe that it is morally correct to do something, and someone who was brought up differently will feel that it is morally wrong. It is hard to say sometimes whether something is moral or not. Many different things have to add up especially in situation like that.
ReplyDeleteSophie, you and your doctor shows. Gosh though, this would be an incredibly difficult decision to make. I don't think I would actually be able to make a decision that would satisfy both me and my morals. In the end, I would probably decide to deliver the baby early and save my own life so that I would be able to have more children in the future. I would also look to my religious and moral values, which would probably make the decision-making process even harder. I think that, in general, you have to look at the bigger picture and decide what course of action would hurt your moral judgement the least and would allow for improvements in the future. This is actually a really though question. :/
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, love this show. and I remember this episode!
ReplyDeleteAs for the question -- I feel like neither would really satisfy my morals, and either why I would be going against the ideal. I think that I would deliver the baby - similar to what Sarah said, so that I could have more children. Obviously I can't say for sure what I would do - but I know I wouldn't be 100% happy either way. But I would rather be able to see and raise my child than not.