Was Jacksonville woman Cherise Doyley forced to undergo a cesarean section (C-section)?
For additional context, Doyley was in labor in September 2024 at the University of Florida Health hospital when she had to appear in court via a Zoom call after the state of Florida filed an emergency petition at the hospital's behest.
Doyley had been informed that she risked the chance of a uterine rupture during birth, a complication which would prove deadly to her and her child, and refused to undergo the C-section, having previously undergone three of the procedures before, unless there was a medical emergency.
"If it's my life or the baby's life, the baby's gonna have to die...and I stand on that," Doyley said during a Zoom call.
Judge Michael Kalil ruled that Doyley's wishes would be respected, and she would not undergo the C-section unless there was a medical emergency.
Sure enough, there was, when her child's heart rate suddenly dropped for seven minutes, which the doctors were forced to react to, resulting in Doyely's child being delivered by C-section.
Thankfully, mother and child survived.
Left-wing sources allege Doyley was forced to undergo the procedure, although the group argues Kalil clearly established that medical intervention would only be allowed if an emergency took place, since Doyley previously stated that she did not want to undergo the C-section.
Pro-life organizations could start pointing to this case as a win for following the letter of the law in a time when so many judges get caught up in trying to legislate from the bench. A high bar appears to have been met. And in a moment where things could have gone very wrong, both mother and child made it through. That's not a failure of 'health care freedom.
