Half of US states refuse to honor pregnant women's living wills

Women's birth plans and do-not-resuscitate orders are disregarded in half of US states if they fall unconscious or can't communicate in labor, a new study reveals. 

Childbirth is a dangerous process - especially in the US, where maternal mortality rates are high - and the process can change courses dramatically at any moment. 

These chances are precisely why most women work with their doctors or doulas to design a birth plan describing how they want their delivery to go, what measures they're not comfortable with and who should make decisions if they cannot. 

But those patient wishes go out the window in many states and, in 12, a woman can be kept alive by any means necessary until her baby can be delivered safely, whereas anyone else's 'do not resuscitate' wishes would be respected, Mayo Clinic research found.  

In 25 US states, women's end-of-life wishes are considered invalid if she is pregnant (two darkest blues), and in 12 states, women can be kept alive as long as necessary until their fetus can be delivered safely (darkest blue)

In 25 US states, women's end-of-life wishes are considered invalid if she is pregnant (two darkest blues), and in 12 states, women can be kept alive as long as necessary until their fetus can be delivered safely (darkest blue) 

Since 2006, the proportion of women that experience serious or life-threatening complications while they are pregnant or giving birth has shot up by 45 percent. 

These complications may come as a result of surgical deliveries via C-section, or may make C-sections and hysterectomies necessary.

In most instances, an advanced directive - or living will - gives a patient a voice even when they fall unconscious while under a doctor's care, or are otherwise unable to understand and evaluate medical information and make and communicate decisions. 

These documents may instruct doctors what to do if various medical situations arise, when to stop trying to resuscitate the patient, when to take the patient off life support and to whom to give decision-making power.

In 25 states, these legal documents are automatically invalidated if a woman is pregnant. 

Pregnancy itself is considered a condition that renders women incapable of making decisions for themselves. 

And in 19 states, the surrogate a woman designated to make decisions in her stead has only limited authority, according to the the new study. 

Disturbingly, in Alabama, Idaho, Indiana,

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