Comparative Study of Legal Aspects of Discontinuation or Continuation of Treatment of Brain Injury in Pregnant Women

Brain injurie in pregnant women is one of the important issues due to the relationship with the life of the fetus. In some brain injuries, it is possible to keep the fetus alive medically until delivery. In addition to the situation of pregnant women, attention to the need for medical support in order to preserve the life of the fetus is one of the issues that should be considered. Among the different types of brain injuries, in this study, Coma, Vegetative status and Brain death are considered as important brain injuries that the loss of patient's consciousness is comon point in all of them and by examining the legal status of patients in each of these types of brain injury, we seek to answer the question, if there is no medical hope for the mother's treatment, but continuing the treatment is effective in keeping the fetus alive, will be a task to continue? The issue of discontinuation or continuation of treatment of patients with brain injuries has not been considered generally or sepecially in relation to pregnant women in the statute and legal doctrine of Iran. In some legal systems, such as United States and United Kingdom, doctrine and precedent explain the issue by providing criteria. Considering the importance of the right of life in Iranian jurisprudence and law and lack of attention to the subject in domestic writings, the present research has been done with a comparative approach by considering two dynamic and pioneering legal system in this field, the issue has been studied from various dimensions such as the right of life of the fetus, the ethical aspects of the action, the will, interests and rights of the mother and the fetus.

This research is a theory and the research method is descriptive-analytical. And the method of collection is library and it is information by referring to documents, books and articles.

In order to organize this research, while observing the authenticity of the texts, hoesty and fidelity have been observed.

In different legal systems, depending on the accepted legal position regarding the legal status of the fetus, there are different criteria to decide about the discontinuation or continuation of the treatment of the pregnant mother until the time of delivery. Despite the difference in some fundamentals between the legal systems, the moral fundamentals and the importance of the right of life have pproximated the accepted solutions and in practice, with different justifications there is a desire to preserve the life of the fetus in the studied systems.

In the legal system of Iran, in deciding about the discontinuation or continuation of the treatment of a pregnant mother until delivery, considering the human personality of the and the importance of the right of life, in the assumption of conflict between the rights of the mother and the fetus, due to the primacy of the right of life, the necessity of continuing the mother's treatment until delivery should be defended. Unlike other legal systems, sometimes by resorting to the criteria of the mother's desire and will or the mother's interests, termination of treatment may be allowed in certain circumstances, in Iranian law, in terms of the importance of the life of the fetus, the will of the mother is not considered a criterion for terminating the life of the fetus. Regarding the criterion of the mother's interests, due to the uncertainty of the existence of harm to the mother, the rights of the fetus have priority and prevent the termination of the mother's treatment.Please cite this article as:Safari N. Comparative Study of Legal Aspects of Discontinuation or Continuation of Treatment of Brain Injury in Pregnant Women. Medical Law Journal. 2022; 16(57): e33.