Caesarean Section on Maternal Request: How Clear Medical Evidence Fails to Produce Ethical Consensus

National and international bodies have used evidence-based medicine to apply the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence to guide a physician's response to a request for Caesarean section without medical indication. Although they are nearly unanimous in their condemnation of saying "yes," a physician who weighs risks unequally, who weighs risks in a patient-centred manner, or who values autonomy may find saying "no" to be an unacceptable …