Should hospitals test pregnant women for drug use without their consent?
Assignment Expectations
Answer this moral question in terms of the utilitarian considerations, who will be helped and who hurt over the long term, and the matters of rights for all involved (e.g., the right to privacy, warrantless search and seizure). Use the basics of utilitarian and deontological reasoning, set out in the background information, in order to make your point.
Use Foubister, V. (2001; see Background page) or click here: Drug tests of non-consenting pregnant women quashed.
Abstract: The Supreme Court has ruled that physicians and other employees of public hospitals cannot perform drug tests on pregnant women without their consent and report the results to the police. The policy for testing pregnant women developed by the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston violates the Fourth Amendment.
