Birth process in human beings is usually a subject to various ethical issues that must be taken into consideration to ensure a positive outcome during the entire process. The prenatal period ends with labor pain, which designates the delivery process. During the labor process, various practices have to be considered both by the mother and the nurse-in-charge of the delivery process (Melinte 70). The considerations and the questions that arise during this period form the ethical issues during the antepartum period of the childbirth process. Arguably, the perception of every practice during the antepartum period is dependent on an individual’s believes on the effects of specific health practices.

One of the most common ethical issue I believe is common among most health care centers during the antepartum period is a denial of consent among mothers. Most nurses in charge of delivery processes usually find that a mother or a patient has no right to making clinical decisions regarding how they feel about the labor pain (Torres and Vries). A patient may be overwhelmed with labor pain and request for a pain killer. However, she may end up being denied the medicine, may be due to the present side effects of these drugs. Even though the denial may seem to be reasonable, the fact remains that the consent of the patient has been denied.

The ethical issues frequently worsen when there is an action by a nurse, which is likely to endanger the patient’s life. In this case, a nurse may decide to use a drug to reduce pain during labor, without considering the side effects, without feeling the outcomes. The overall result for such practices may be increased complications during the birth process. I would choose a health practice that does not violate a patients’ consent and at the same time, minimizes the sides effects that may be presented by the methods.

Works Cited

Melinte, Petru, Razvan, et al. “Intrauterine antepartum fetal death. Medical, social and forensic implications.” Rom J Leg Med 23.1 (2015): 69-80.

Torres, Jennifer and Vries, Raymond. Birthing Ethics: What Mothers, Families, Childbirth Educators, Nurses, and Physicians Should Know About the Ethics of Childbirth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667293/