This research examines the many different ethical issues that emerge in the health care setting with regards to prenatal diagnostic testing. Identifying the areas of clinical practice and religious counselling in need of improvements, particularly physician-client communication, is important to ensure that competent pregnant women make informed, considered choices about prenatal testing. This paper investigates the many factors that contribute to pregnant women's decision-making processes surrounding the acceptance or refusal of the maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein screen, ultrasonography, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, and preimplantation diagnosis. Integrating scholarship in bioethics, religious studies, and the anthropological and sociological study of medicine, this dissertation offers a comparative analysis of religious attitudes toward prenatal diagnostic testing, describes the complexities of practical decision-making by pregnant women faced with genuine ethical dilemmas, and provides an analysis of ethical issues related to prenatal testing. This research will be of interest to scholars in religious studies and bioethics, prenatal genetic counsellors and obstetricians involved in the provision of prenatal diagnostic testing services, and specialists in women's health and reproductive decisionmaking.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.19653 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Sutton, Erica J. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Faculty of Religious Studies) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002022605, Theses scanned by McGill Library. |
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