Pregnant and Forced to Stay On Life support

[Pointedstick]

Yikes. I don't know how anyone can untangle a mess like that.

[MediumTex]

I'm surprised that the family apparently has no interest in trying to save the baby.

[WiseOne]

If I were the family I'd transfer to a hospital with more sensible physicians.  The position taken by the hospital in question is completely ridiculous.  And may I say, the torture that family is going through is horrible and completely unfair.

The law says it's not legal for a pregnant woman to refuse TREATMENT.  Once someone is brain dead, ongoing life support is not treatment because there is nothing to treat.  The law doesn't apply.  It's intended for situations like a pregnant woman refusing, say, antibiotics for an infection.

The hospital is probably afraid of tangling with the courts because it's too small and maybe doesn't have a great reputation.  An academic center like Baylor would be far less likely to be questioned.

And, it's not clear what exactly happened to the woman in question, but it's hard to imagine a scenario that didn't affect the fetus.  The chances of that fetus being anywhere near normal (or even viable) is pretty much zero.

[ZedThou]

I guess the plan is to keep her heart beating for six months, carve the baby out, and finally let the family have the corpse. That's disgusting.

[Pointedstick]

Update: she's braindead and the fetus is not viable. They're pulling the plug. What a tragedy all around.

[Lowe]

The child wouldn't have had a mother, which is probably why the family wasn't interested in saving it.  Plus, if they knew their stuff, they might've known that there's zero possibility of healthy prenatal development in a mother who doesn't move around, do, or say anything.

I don't understand the actions of the hospital, though, if she were fully brain dead when she arrived.  Brain dead people start decomposing after only a month or two, even if you keep them on life support.  Only a comatose or vegetative mother could've made it to term.