FAMILY LAW—COURT-ORDERED SURGERY FOR THE PROTECTION OF A.pdfVIP

FAMILY LAW-COURT-ORDERED SURGERY FOR THE PROTECTION OF A VIABLE FETus-Jefferson v. Gr!!fin Spalding County Hospital Authority, 247 Ga. 86, 274 S.E.2d 457 (1981). I. INTRODUCTION In Jefferson v. Gr!!fin Spalding County Hospital Authority,l the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a lower courts decision ordering a pregnant woman to submit to a caesarean section if necessary to protect her thirty-nine week old fetus. 2 The court held that as a mat­ ter of law the viable fetus3 was entitled to the protection of the Juve­ nile Court Code of Georgia4 and, because of the mothers refusal to submit to recommended surgery, was without proper parental care and subsistence necessary to sustain life.5 The court granted tempo­ rary custody of the fetus to the Georgia Department of Human Re­ sources with full authority to consent to any necessary medical procedures.6 Historically, medical refusal cases have arisen in two contents: cases in which the treatment is intended for the unwilling patients own benefit? and those in which the patient is a minor child or other type of incompetent whose parent or guardian withholds consent.8 These categories have each generated substantial and well developed bodies of law. In Jefferson, however, a pregnant womans refusal of medical treatment necessary to save the life of her fetus presented the Georgia Supreme Court with a unique legal dilemma for which there was surprisingly little authority upon which to base a decision. This situation, while generally related to the established lines of au­ thority for medical refusal cases, is nevertheless validly distinguish­ able from both.9 Furthermore, the problem has taken on a new I. 247 Ga. 86, 274 S.E.2