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11 - Commentary on Burton v. State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2022

Seema Mohapatra
Affiliation:
SMU Dedman School of Law, Texas
Lindsay Wiley
Affiliation:
UCLA School of Law, California
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Summary

In Burton v. State, a case from 2010, the Florida District Court of Appeals overturned a trial judge’s order requiring a pregnant woman with two children and two jobs who experienced premature rupture of membranes and onset of contractions at 25 weeks pregnant to submit to any medical treatment that her obstetrician deemed necessary—including detention in the hospital, administration of intravenous medications, and surgical delivery by cesarean section. Burton was prohibited from obtaining a transfer to another hospital where she might have gotten a second opinion because the trial court determined that moving her was not in the best interest of the child she carried. Nadia Sawicki’s feminist concurrence agrees with the majority’s determination that the trial court failed to apply the correct legal standard but writes separately to highlight that the trial court’s order was not supported by competent and substantial evidence. Greer Donley’s commentary highlights how the state’s efforts to dictate Burton’s health care “treatment” not only deprived her of dignity and bodily autonomy but also disregarded her right to make end-of-life decisions for her potential child.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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