ABSTRACT
In this chapter we provide a clinically applicable account of current ethical issues in the management of multiple pregnancy. We start with an introduction to clinical ethics and its two fundamental principles, beneficence and respect for autonomy. On the basis of these ethical principles we then explicate the important concept of the fetus as a patient. We present and justify three indications for fetal reduction and selective termination of multiple pregnancy based on this central concept of obstetric ethics. We then present a preventive ethics approach to avoiding unwanted multiple pregnancy. We conclude with a discussion of the management of premature delivery of multiple pregnancies.
