[ackfoo]

If you look down the list of deliveries included in the article, you will see that at least one of the other doctors has an unusually low rate of weekend deliveries, but that they peak significantly on Thursday and Friday.

This is likely because many OB-Gyns induce labour for the opposite reason to that which is alleged of Shuen: so their weekend golf game doesn't get screwed up by a delivery.

In truth, there is little difference between inducing labour for financial versus personal reasons. No doctor ever said to a patient, "I have a tee-off time at 9:30 Sunday so we have to get this baby out now."

This means that the issue of consent is identical in both cases. Consent means "informed consent". It doesn't matter if you're trying to get the extra billing for a weekend delivery or if you are trying keep the weekend call schedule quiet; it doesn't matter if you pop a misoprostol in during a vag exam or go through the formal induction process with the hospital. If the patient doesn't know the REAL reason, it's still a crime because of the absence of INFORMED consent.

This has been happening as long as there have been OB-Gyns. Babies come when they want, and doctors have always tried to manipulate that for their own preference.

Shuen's crucifixion is therefore more the result of his motivation than the fact of his behaviour. He was apparently doing for money what almost every OB-Gyn does for reasons that we consider more noble, or at least understandable, but which are actually no different because they prioritize something other than the health of the baby and the mother.

Even if doctors were truly altruistic, reality would still require inductions for the banal reason of hospital staff scheduling or resource availability. We are fools if we think this is any different from what Shuen did.

Any system motivated and rewarded by money will always suffer from these sorts of imperfections, as will any system that is not motivated by money.

It is the height of naivete to think otherwise. Shuen just flew a little closer to the sun than everyone else.

Also, the article neglects the obvious problem with chain of custody. Once you throw an exam glove in the garbage, it's gone. If Shuen ever got his day in an actual court, his lawyer would tear that evidence apart to the point where it would have to be disregarded by a judge or jury. It's not fair to trot it out now in this hatchet piece as if it is the smoking gun.

Keep in mind that the nurses justifiably hated Shuen because he (admittedly) behaved like a complete asshole to them. Nurses are really good at finding clever ways to take you out under those circumstances. You have to interpret that piece of evidence in light of the unbridled hostility of those who collected it.