Baby of brain dead woman finally delivered weighing less than 2 pounds

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It’s evil what was done to that poor woman. At one point she was literally rotting just so she could incubate the fetus that little bit longer. He’s finally been born, and he’s so small. They are confident he will make it, but I think they HAVE to say that to justify what they did.

Least she can rest in peace now

@LifeExperience where has the father been quoted, please?

What a terrible, monstrous thing to do.

That country is turning into fucking Gilead.

If it was viable for delivery straight away and had not had any lack of oxygen then absolutely.

But for me not at 9 weeks absolutely not. I would never want to incubate a baby dead or alive that I believed was at risk of serious health issues from birth and subsequent lack of quality of life.

No one want this baby to be damaged. Where are you getting that idea from. Your head?

the fetus went for an ectebddd period of time without oxygen when the mother had the stroke. The chances of this baby being in anyway functioning are very slim

So the wishes of a man who wasn't even the female patient's next of kin prevailed over her express wish not to be resuscitated?

The woman had a DNR in place. Her partner's wishes for her to gestate a 9 week old foetus should absolutely not have trumped that.

I think that's unclear. As the foetus was past the six week 'heart beat' gestation and in Georgia, the doctors may well have felt that - legally - they were on shaky ground to abide by the DNR, regardless of any family view.

This is like the Handmaids Tale

It really is. It's so dystopian, I can't believe anyone thought this was in the best interests of the fetus.

Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain-dead. She was eight weeks pregnant, according to WXIA...
Smith’s family said Emory doctors told them they were not allowed to remove the devices keeping her breathing because state law bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/baby-delivered-prematurely-from-brain-dead-woman-on-life-support-in-georgia

I truly don't think this was down to the father overruling the DNR - though of course, he may have been supportive of the hospital's actions.

Why do you think he won't thrive? Apart from being raised without his mother of course.

Because he grew in a dead body, was starved of oxygen for some time, was premature and it was earlier reported (though this info seems to be missing from the recent reports for some reason...) that he has severe hydrocephalus. He isn't going to thrive. That's wishful thinking.

He was born at something like 27/28 weeks gestation in the end, which can result in complications (Emory were trying to get to 32 weeks), as with other premature babies.

I’m re watching the handmaids tale and in one episode there is shock and horror that a brain dead women is being kept alive to keep her baby alive - she is not the patient, the unborn child is.
This was what 2018? And told as sickening.

X-post wirh @Digdongdoo

I was just curious if the opinion was based on the prematurity alone or if there was more to it. Thanks for the info.

I understand that. But prematurity alone doesn't mean a baby won't thrive. Premature babies can and do thrive. But another poster has given me extra info which makes more sense.

I think there is a social and ethical debate to be had about when and whether life support should be used for pregnant women where it provides a reasonably short window for the fetus to mature.

My gut feel is that this should only be an option in the third trimester, though. Or possibly after viability. I don't think society should be incubating fetuses without live mothers. Not even if the mother wants it, the father wants it or the family wants it. There are some things that are beyond personal choice.

That’s only if he doesn’t have a hypoxic brain injury and severe disabilities.

Perfectly put. I wouldn't have wanted that for me and DS. I didn't even think about it when I was pregnant with him, so it's a good thing nothing happened.

It was just sick what was done. Absolutley vile. The weight that the kid will have to have on his shouldners - if he survives that long. the phrases that'll be thrown at him,
America is sick.

I would agree that there should be such a debate. I assume that a number of such cases are "clear": either a long way from viability or at the stage where a week or so more, with steroids to mature the baby's lungs perhaps, is enough to be meaningful. It will be the 'middle' cases that would be good to have more universal guidance.

Its should be the other way round. There should be a blanket ruling that letting a dead woman die by taking her off life support is not 'providing an abortion'. No medical staff should be prosecuted. That way they'll never have to argue in court over how many minutes the brain has been deprived of oxygen, and whether they did enough.
Medical staff that decide to try to save the fetus can argue their case, and show the odds of a good outcome.

Yeah I think your right 9 weeks is very early. It’s just a horrible sad story.

Its should be the other way round. There should be a blanket ruling that letting a dead woman die by taking her off life support is not 'providing an abortion'.

I don't think it would ever be considered an abortion in the UK, even if a woman was taken off life support at 39 weeks. The US is tricky because (a) different states have different laws and (b) they have a concept of 'personhood' for a foetus that I don't think we have in UK law.