Obstetric Violence Challenges and Perspective for Humanistic Protection

Abstract

Background: Obstetric violence is a violation of human rights that puts the physical and mental health of the woman in labor at risk and, depending on its extent, can result in harm to the newborn. On the one hand, the right of the woman in labor to know all behaviors that may generate risks is supported by national legislation; on the other hand, in the Brazilian scenario there is a lack of information about the ethical and moral limits regarding the aforementioned behaviors that can cause serious harm to the human rights of those involved (mother and newborn). Problem: The problem arises when the legislation does not provide a clear definition of the limits of this form of violence, depending on a multidisciplinary interpretation that hermeneutically interprets aspects of the right to health and dignity of the woman in labor, since, in the latter, they are inherent to the doctor-patient (and other people involved in the multidisciplinary team). Objective: The focus of the research is to demonstrate that obstetric violence is not easy to identify, because, despite the doctrinal and legislative aspects that attempt to combat it, initiatives to protect parturient and minors are still timid victims of obstetric violence, violating the social right to health and individual human dignity. Methods: Through a bibliographic review and hypothetical-deductive methodology, supported by publications available in physical and digital media, we sought to approach the scenario of obstetric violence from a humanistic perspective and outline some developments on the subject in the Brazilian legislative scenario. Result: From this study it was found that Brazilian legislation seeks to aggregate, albeit timidly, aspects of obstetric violence, but fails to outline what they are and how to identify them, still bringing a lot of misinformation, given the restriction of information in the medical area. Conclusions: The evolution on the subject is timid, recommending other actions in favor of the interest of the parturient in this situation of vulnerability.