Evaluating Hospital Procedures for Authorizing Emergency Abortion with Nadia Sawicki

Evaluating Hospital Procedures for Authorizing Emergency Abortion: All states that have banned or restricted abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health offer some exception for abortions that are medically necessary to save a patient’s life during an emergency. However, the internal procedures for reviewing and approving requests for emergency abortion vary dramatically from institution to institution. In some hospitals, the treating physician can make this judgment on their own; in others, an ethics committee must review the decision; in others, hospital counsel may impose limits on physicians’ authority to terminate pregnancy. Sawicki will offer insights as to how well each of these decision-making procedures balance patient safety, clinical standards of care, medical ethics and legal risk, with the goal of encouraging hospital attorneys and health care providers to thoughtfully select approaches that best meet their patients’ needs.