Being kept alive for the sake of the unborn baby..

[QueenofmyPrinces]

A bit random, but just after some other people’s thoughts about a discussion I had with my husband last night and some of our friends.

We had all been watching Kill Bill and were chatting about the fact that the main character had been shot whilst pregnant, and was in a coma for ‘x’ amount of time and then when she woke up she saw her bump wasn’t there - I guess she assumed the baby had died but in the second film, she learns that the baby didn’t die and had been living with the father for 6 years.

I then said that if I was pregnant, and something happened to me that resulted in me being clinically dead, I would want doctors to put me on a ventilator, to keep me ‘alive’ in order to preserve my baby‘s life and then deliver it at 40 weeks.

DH said that hypothetically he would want the same as we would both want the baby to be allowed to live even if something happened to me.

One of our friends was pretty horrified by the idea though and said she couldn’t put her finger on the reason why, but she just didn’t like the thought of it.

I asked why wouldn’t she want the doctors to keep her ventilated to keep the baby safe and ultimately be born, but she couldn’t give a specific reason and just said it didn’t seem right.

We didn’t get into any big debate about it or anything but I’m just interested in what other people think.

I would absolutely want to be “kept alive” to enable the safe delivery of my baby and allow it to have a chance at life.

AIBU to think most women would feel like that?

[Crumpets124]

I don’t know if it’s that simple re deterioration of your body and impact on loved ones.

www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/hse-apologises-to-family-of-pregnant-woman-kept-on-life-support-1.4089397

[Pinkerpellosa]

That's exactly what I thought of Crumpets .
A woman is more than a womb. The effect on that woman's family was horrendous

[Hiphopopotamus]

No. I have no desire to be turned into an essentially dead human incubator. Let alone all the medical reasons why it’s a terrible idea - unable to regulate temperature, susceptible to illness and infections. There’s a good chance it could harm the baby or cause it to be born with issues anyway. I am a human being and if I die, then unfortunately anything else dependent on my survival dies too.

[ShiveringCoyote]

It doesn't work out like that
www.thejournal.ie/readme/eight-amendment-abortion-rights-2685815-Mar2016/

[Hoik]

For me personally, it would depend how far on I was. A few weeks away from delivery? Sure, go ahead. More than a few weeks? Let us both go instead of keeping me hanging on like some sort of a macabre incubator.

It raises some uncomfortable ethical questions about bodily autonomy, where the rights of the woman end and the rights of the foetus begin, and issues around whether just because medical science can do something it does not mean that they should. A woman is more than simply an incubator and her bodily autonomy, including the right to a dignified death, should come first.

[Stickybeaksid]

As others said this was a real scenario in Ireland with horrendous consequences. Thankfully we have no changes the law so it will never happen again.

[BecauseReasons]

I'm sure this came up on some TV program or other and they said that it'd have a long term detrimental effect on the foetus because the development of the unborn is complex and needs more than just a beating heart.

Could be codswallop though.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

For me personally, it would depend how far on I was. A few weeks away from delivery?

I wonder if the woman was more than 24 weeks gestation they would put the mother under anaesthetic, perform a caesarean and then allow the mother to die?

[enjoyingscience]

God, that story is horrendous. What that poor family must have seen. Were they really thinking they’d keep her ‘alive’ for another 25 weeks? Awful.

[atomicblonde30]

I don’t like it either, also I like your friend cannot articulate why only that I don’t like the way it makes me feel.

It would depend on lots of differing factors though I agree with a lot of what @Hoik said.

[beckywiththeshithair33]

Missing the point entirely but in Kill Bill wasn't she in a coma anyway? She wasn't purposely being kept alive just for the baby's sake because she was in a coma for a long time after the baby was born. Then she woke up naturally. Won't mention what else happens in that scene as it's horrific. Good old Tarantino

Agree with the others that it's quite macabre to keep a woman alive purely as an incubator for a baby. If it were safe to deliver baby at that stage of course it could be done but if the baby was very small and still dependent on its mother for survival then I think it's risky to play god and intervene for medical and psychological reasons.

[BertieBotts]

In theory yes it sounds nice but I remember that Irish case as well and the reality sounded absolutely horrific. It's one of the most disturbing things I have ever read.

It left me in no doubt that this should never happen and the process of pregnancy is far far more than just incubation.

[Toona]

I think it would depend. Around 30 plus weeks I think I'd want them to give it a go. A baby is very much a baby to me from about six months onwards, so I would see it as paramount to preserve its life on a par with my own. Below that, if you're looking at months upon months of trying to keep a very young fetus alive, no, I think it would be kinder to let it die with the mother.

Part of me also cringes at the thought of a newborn being alone in the world without its mother from the word go, but of course that happened all the time when women died during or shortly after childbirth. I have this very primal, reactive horror at the thought of a new baby "alone" without its mother, even though it would be surrounded by love and care in my family.

[Thesearmsofmine]

No I wouldn’t want to be kept alive for months and months, I think it would be awful for family and also the baby as it grows up.
If you were far enough along when you died I assume they would immediately deliver baby anyway.

[BrieAndChilli]

I think it depends on how long until birth there is left. Like a pp a couple of weeks then definitely, but if I was only like 8 weeks pregnant them I’m not sure.

[MaxNormal]

There's something very creepy about the thought of a fetus developing inside the body of a dead woman.

[MmmMalbec]

You don’t need to deliver at 40 weeks. If the baby has a chance of survival then they could perform a section. If the baby has no chance of survival then I think that the baby and mother should be allowed to go naturally.

[Hoik]

TRIGGER WARNING, FATAL ROAD ACCIDENT

There was a car accident a few years ago and the female driver was heavily pregnant, I'm not sure how far, but an emergency caesarean was attempted at the scene when it became clear she was dead/dying. I don't know what the outcome was but there is a world of difference between immediate life saving measures and prolonging death for an indefinite period.

[BigFatLiar]

If the pregnancy is well advanced it may be the baby could be born by cesarean. Don't see much problem with the concept if its possible. Women have asked to have the embryos from IVF after the partners death or even use the semen from dead partners.

[PrinnyPree]

Seriously I wouldn't give a damn, I'm essentially dead, do what you like with me and make sure any useful bits go to people in need of donors or science. I'm 26 weeks pregnant so I say keep me going as a meat incubator. However if my husband or family couldn't deal with that I'm happy for them to "switch me off". X

[ShiveringCoyote]

Extremely premature babies being born of a very ill or dying mother have very little chance of surviving, not to mention those who do survive have a high chance of disabilities.
It's not the sleeping beauty scenario from the movies. The mothers organs are shutting down and trying to die.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

I think it depends on how long until birth there is left. Like a pp a couple of weeks then definitely, but if I was only like 8 weeks pregnant them I’m not sure.

I was thinking more like if the woman was 20 weeks pregnant, should she be kept on a ventilator for another 4 weeks so the baby can reach the age of visibility, and then it be delivered?

[Morgan12]

I honestly don't know.

I'd like to save my unborn but I don't think I could put my two sons through something like that.

[thecatsthecats]

My husband was born at 25 weeks long enough ago that he was a genuine miracle baby. In fact apart from mild hemiplegia, he's barely affected.

In theory, I'd be fine with being kept "on" from 25w to say, 30, then cesarean.

Mind you, as a straight woman it's not a decision that will ever be in front of me. For my husband it would be having his child and losing me on the same day.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

*age of viability, not visibility