Medico-legal and ethical dilemmas in managing anencephalic pregnancy in a high risk pregnant woman - reflection on current practice in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Antenatal care services are an umbrella term for the medical care carried out during pregnancy (Rooney CIF: WHO1992). It is an essential part of basic primary healthcare during pregnancy and it offers a mosaic of services that can prevent, detect and treat risk factors early on in pregnancy. It can also be used as a platform for additional interventions that can positively influence the maternal and fetal health status such as immunization, nutrition programs, smoking cessation and life styles management. Although routine organ donation is controversial and may have ceased in anencephaly, opportunistic organ donation is underutilized and there is no consensus on the best practice option. In this paper we review the management of an anencephaly carried post term and discussed the missed opportunities of opportunistic organ transplantation in all its ramifications including ethical implication.