Berlin - A leading German doctor warned physicians yesterday against performing caesarean sections on pregnant women who are determined to give birth on New Year's Eve. "It is morally and legally dubious," said Dr Joerg-Dietrich Hoppe, president of the German chamber of physicians.
In Germany, as in many other countries, there has been intense media coverage of women who became pregnant in April in order to have a baby delivered on January 1st, 2000. Prizes have been offered for the first baby of the new century and many couples followed guidelines suggesting April 9th last as the ideal time for conception.