“Not Until the Baby Arrives”: When Delusional Pregnancy Impacts the Management of Uterine Cancer

Authors

  • Marnina Norys Humber River Hospital; Department of Health Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5972-8006
  • Michael Szego Department of Health Studies, York University; Centre for Clinical Ethics, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Eliane Shore Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9714-7858
  • Julie Maggi Department of Psychiatry, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5027-703X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7202/1112293ar

Keywords:

delusion of pregnancy, psychiatry, informed consent, capacity, oncology, interdisciplinary collaboration

Language(s):

English

Abstract

A 56-year-old postmenopausal woman (FB) was diagnosed with Grade 1 endometrioid adenocarcinoma but was refusing a hysterectomy. The patient understood she had cancer and understood treatment was required to treat the condition. However, due to a well-entrenched delusion of pregnancy associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, FB believed the surgery recommended by her gynecologist would harm the fetus she believed to be developing inside her womb. FB was deemed incapable of consenting to surgery due to her pregnancy delusion, which meant that the procedure could be performed with consent from a substitute decision maker (SDM). In this paper, we describe our team’s approach to the presenting moral dilemma consisting of a choice between forcing surgery on an unwilling patient or allowing her to die of a treatable illness.

(c) Han Han Li

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Published

2024-06-21

How to Cite

[1]
Norys M, Szego M, Shore E, Maggi J. “Not Until the Baby Arrives”: When Delusional Pregnancy Impacts the Management of Uterine Cancer. Can. J. Bioeth 2024;7:186-8. https://doi.org/10.7202/1112293ar.

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2-3 (2024): Open Issue & CBS Workshops

Section

Case studies

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Marnina Norys, Michael Szego, Eliane Shore, Julie Maggi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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