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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCanadian journal of bioethics = revue canadienne de bioéthique Vol. 7; no. 2-3; pp. 186 - 188
Main Authors Norys, Marnina, Szego, Michael, Shore, Eliane, Maggi, Julie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal 21.06.2024
Universite de Montreal
Subjects
Cancer
capacity
delusion of pregnancy
Health aspects
Hysterectomy
informed consent
interdisciplinary collaboration
oncology
Pregnancy
Pregnant women
psychiatry
Schizophrenia
Women
Ontario
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2561-4665
2561-4665
DOI:10.7202/1112293ar