"Are Women People?"

I assumed the same! I know they give you the option to have epsiotomies instead of ripping. I'd say that opposing C-section is far more important than an episiotomy, but apparently we don't get to make serious choices anymore!

/crosses arms and fumes

Depends on the state. In the US a physician/hospital can obtain court orders if they believe risk the life of the child/parent, complicated. Resisting a c-section can also be followed by criminal prosecution.

Here is an interesting article on court ordered c-sections.

EDIT: E.g. C-sections reduce HIV transmission further from mother to newborn..... Pediatrics - Univ. of Michigan

a hospital can claim you arent in your right mind because the pain of labor is distorting your decision making.

:<

/fades back into lurking

Actually this is something I've wondered a lot about. How DO you tell if you're in your right mind? I have a long history of Alzheimer's and related diseases in my lineage, and have great fear that it will happen to me. How will I know if I start down that path? What defines "crazy"?

Edit: What's worse is I've always been a space case. I forget things all the time, lose stuff in weird place, and am generally a goofball. Simple things like "forgetting a name" won't help, although if I forgot my own or wife's name, that would be something.

generally, when you dont have the ability to make sound decisions. Like if you where in extreme pain in the ER but you need to sign a waiver. They wont let you sign it becaue you are "not capable" of making that decision yourself.

sort of.
maybe.
something like that.

ive had to do it for my mom and dad a couple of times when they where in the hospital. Thats kind of the only example i can think of at the moment.

Edit relevence to your edit: I have dimensia and alzheimer's along with other nasty things in my family medical history too. Pretty much both sides of my family have it.

Related diseases? I'm assuming general hereditary psychiatric-syndromes. Crazy legally or medically?

Alzheimer's, manic depression, ADHD/ADD, schizophrenia are very different things, despite them sharing some symptoms. Diagnosis is hard especially for manic depression.

Hereditary mental disorders are the specialty of a psychiatrist. So you'd prolly want to go see a doctor or a psychiatrist for diagnosis. Cause they all exhibit anxiety and/or depression. I've known a few people who thought they were just having severe depression and later found out they had manic depression. Then again if if its not hereditary you'd prolly want to see a psychologist. Generally your main doctor should be able to tell you whats going on.

Crazy legally. I'm not sure. Crazy/insanity are terms, no longer used in the medical community, especially because of the stigmas associated. Manic depression, schizophrenia and various other psych-disorders are used to classify them specifically and each has their own symptoms. Some anxiety, depression, loss of memory, dementia, etc...