Merrily Married Couples and Dying Babies

I'm going to first say that I already screwed up the point of this questionaire by reading the whole thing before responding, even the section for females. I didn't read any of the responses yet though so I hope I didn't skew this too much. I was too idiotic to realize what was going on until I finished reading the entire first post. x_x

[SIZE="2"]Section A[/SIZE]

 Spoiler

You are married to a wonderful wife who for all intensive purposes is Ms. Perfect. Not only does she have killer curves, a beautiful face, and a wonderful personality but she has your baby boy waiting to be born. You host a fantastic baby shower and drink a little champagne to celebrate. Because you drank a little alcohol, you are afraid that the Justice League of America might ticket you for a drink and drive (DUI). Taking the passenger's seat of your trendy Honda Odyssey you notice that your wife is getting woozy and swerves into the opposing lane. Just in the nick of time you grab a hold of the wheel, saving her from crashing into the opposing lane. Your wife presses the brakes and pulls the car over to the side. In celebration of your accomplishment, you hear the wonderful sound of police sirens as congratulations. The police believing that your wife is drunk (she is not) and asks her to walk in a straight line. You get out of the car in order to tell the cops that she is feeling sick and they shouldn't make her walk as she is pregnant but they tell you to get back in the car or else they will arrest you. Your wife attempts to walk but the wooziness hits her and she collapses on the street. In no time at all, emergency ambulances come in and ship you and your wife off to the nearest hospital. Your wife still has not regained consciousness and cannot make a decision about treatment options. The doctors come in and tell you that you that she has lung cancer. Due to the fact that is not awake you must make a decision on what type of surgery she should receive. The doctors offer you three choices. Please make a decision and offer a reason before moving on to the next section.

A) They can perform operation on her right now but will possibly kill the baby: Chance of her living 25% Chance of baby living 30%

B) They can wait until she delivers the baby and then perform the surgery: Chance of her living 5% Chance of baby living 80%

C) They can try to perform surgery on her and try to remove the baby early: Chance of her living 15% Chance of baby living 50%

This is a really tough choice to make. I would say D: wait for her to wake up, but if the decision HAD to be from the above choices, I would choose C. The reason for this choice is that all choices for the wife are pretty low.

In A, 25% is really not enough to make a significant difference, even though it's 5x higher survival rate than choice B. In other words, 25% is still too low to put any real weight; she has little hope to live. Also, even if she does survive, since she has lung cancer, she wouldn't have much longer anyways. That and the fact that A also has an extremely high rate for the baby to die compared to the other two choices.

If we were purely speaking on statistical terms, I should choose B, because the combined rate of survival for the wife and baby is 85%. However, a 5% chance of survival for my wife means a 95% chance of her death, which to me means almost certain death. I really can't deal with the guilt of knowing I chose to kill her.

So I choose C, since it gives each person something in between the two extreme probabilities.

[SIZE="2"]Section B[/SIZE]

 Spoiler

Your wife regains consciousness the day before surgery. She insists that you choose choice B because she wants the baby, your baby to live. She loves you but doesn't want to sacrifice her baby. Also when it comes to saving someone, your baby has the highest % to live in all three possibilities. It is the best choice when it comes to saving a life. You love your wife. This woman is amazing and makes you feel warm in all the wrong places. But you don't know whether it's better to respect her wishes or to possibly choose the riskier operation resulting in her dying. You can always have another child, but you can never have another wife. Your wife has fallen asleep again and the doctors have let you have primary responsibility over your wife's decision. You are asked one more time if you want to change to a different option.

A) They can perform operation on her right now but will possibly kill the baby: Chance of her living 25% Chance of baby living 30%

B) They can wait until she delivers the baby and then perform the surgery: Chance of her living 5% Chance of baby living 80%

C) They can try to perform surgery on her and try to remove the baby early: Chance of her living 15% Chance of baby living 50%

If it were my wife's wish to choose B, then I would choose it. It would be awful to go with any other option at this point, because her chances of surviving in any of the choices is low anyway. If both her AND her baby dies, then I would be unable to forgive myself if I had changed choices, + she would die knowing I've unforgivably wronged her.

[SIZE="2"]Section C[/SIZE]

 Spoiler

A doctor on the team who has been through similar circumstance has formed a close relationship with you. The doctor after much consideration decides to tell you that he has discovered that your wife has been in a previous marriage. The revelation shocks you as your wife had never disclosed being in a previous relationship. The doctor explains that the wife left the marriage shortly after she miscarried her first child. This would be her second child and you would be her second husband. The doctor allows you to rethink your decision.

A) They can perform operation on her right now but will possibly kill the baby: Chance of her living 25% Chance of baby living 30%

B) They can wait until she delivers the baby and then perform the surgery: Chance of her living 5% Chance of baby living 80%

C) They can try to perform surgery on her and try to remove the baby early: Chance of her living 15% Chance of baby living 50%

I don't care if she had a previous relationship. Sure I would be shocked, but it would bear no relevance to my decision. I wouldn't abandon her even if the question were rephrased to state that she were cheating actually. My philosophy is "Fly freely but return to me."

Armed with this knowledge that her previous baby has passed, and the fact that she so desperately wants this baby to survive, I should have even more reason to stick with option B because what if she survives and the baby passes (by some odd fling of probability)? She feel even MORE hopeless than she was when her first baby passed. And it'd be my fault if I had switched decisions, especially if I had switched to A or back to C. At least if she does die after I stick with B, she will die knowing I respected her decision.

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Edit: I just read the other responses. I am thoroughly amused.