Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the interest of not hi-jacking the thread discussing the 13 year old brain dead girl in CA, I'm starting a new thread for this similar case though many of my comments and questions concern both cases.
This Texas case involves a 33 year old woman who was 14 weeks pregnant with her second child when she suffered a pulmonary embolism on November 26th that resulted in massive brain damage. Her parents and husband say that she has been declared brain dead (I could not find confirmation from the hospital on this) and would like her to be removed from the ventilator. Apparently Texas is one of 12 states that won't allow a pregnant woman to be removed from a ventilator if the fetus is still alive.
I think the debate in this case is whether or not the Texas law applies if the mother is brain dead and not merely in a vegatative state. Again - the family states that she has been declared brain dead, but the hospital has not publicly confirmed that statement.
They talk about keeping her in this condition until the fetus is 24 weeks gestation and then making decisions about delivery then. Clearly, 24 weeks is still very high-risk for a premature baby to be born and who knows how long the mother (and therefore the fetus) were without oxygen prior to resuscitation.
Given what has been said about Jahi McMath's body and the effects of long-term ventilation for a brain dead person, it is hard for me to understand how a brain dead woman's body could sustain the life of a growing fetus. I imagine that she is receiving some sort of parenteral nutrition but it still seems like her body would break down and the fetus would be compromised (further compromised).
This woman's husband and parents are in agreement that they want the ventilator discontinued and state that the woman had made her wishes clear to her husband that she would not want to be maintained on life support (they were both EMTs so it is reasonable to think that they would have had such discussions). It does not appear that the family has sought legal action at this point.
So.. Who pays for the bill then, if the state is forcing her to remain 'alive'? In any case, just let her die. Her wishes are being disregarded by the state. Ironic that 'govt needs to mind its own business'-Texas is doing this.
I think they should honor the wishes of the family. I know of a case quite a few years ago - in the 80s, where a woman was further along in her pregnancy and had a brain hemorrhage. She had migraines and had stopped taking migraine medicine because of the pregnancy and had done everything she could to ensure that her baby would be healthy, including enduring migraines without medication. Her family knew without a doubt that she would want her baby to have every chance at life. She was kept on a ventilator until safe for delivery. I don't remember the exact about of time, but probably six weeks or something like that, so that is obviously much less time than this. But in that case she was further along and they knew what she would have wanted and the husband and family were in agreement.
I think it would be awful in this case them to even think about delivering the baby at 24 weeks. Even if the baby survived at that gestation, it could have major problems. Not really worth it to keep her on life support only to deliver the baby so early that it may die or have disabilities, IMO. And if the husband has SAID he doesn't want to keep her on life support, what if he then has a baby to raise alone, and one that may need special care at that?
I've read a bit about this case, too. The biggest difference appears to be that the pregnant woman's brain stem is still active. Jahi's is not. Neither has any higher function - that's the first thing to go when your brain is deprived of oxygen.
My personal opinion is that the state is overstepping its bounds with this law (and so are the other states with similar laws). The husband and family are all in agreement that she would not want her body kept going this way, and the pregnancy was only either 10 or 14 weeks along when the incident happened to her. That is a very long time to try to keep her body going, and no one has any idea whether the fetus was also damaged by the lack of oxygen.
If the baby survives and is disabled, due to the oxygen deficit, early delivery, or both, then the state has also sentenced the husband to the financial and emotional costs of caring for this child. After he had to wait to bury his dead wife for months.
I agree that the state is over stepping in this case. If the family wants her removed from the vent then she should be removed. If her brain stem is still active does that mean her body can still regulate temperature and absorb nutrition? I wonder if that is what is making the difference.
The number of cases is small. About two thirds resulted in delivery of living infants. Of those, six who were available for follow up at age two were developing normally.
The article includes a brief discussion of the ethical issues.
In this case, I feel the family's wishes should have been followed. In essence, the next of kin should be able to consent to terminate the pregnancy.
The number of cases is small. About two thirds resulted in delivery of living infants. Of those, six who were available for follow up at age two were developing normally.
The article includes a brief discussion of the ethical issues.
In this case, I feel the family's wishes should have been followed. In essence, the next of kin should be able to consent to terminate the pregnancy.
Interesting, but the fetuses in the study seemed to be much older, and the recommendations of the management of the pregnant corpse indicate that those of a gestational age under 22 weeks are high risk. The longer they try to maintain the brain dead, the more complications occur. So, yeah, it may be possible, but I agree with you - they should have let her go as she and her family wished.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
