GA - Adriana Smith, 30, brain dead but kept alive because she is pregnant, Atlanta

[orchidaceaes]

This is so upsetting. Adriana Smith was a 30 year old nurse from Atlanta, Georgia. She was only 9 weeks along when she was declared brain dead. Now she is 21 weeks along and being kept alive because she is pregnant. There are so many questions to be asked. Her poor family and young son...

Family says woman declared brain dead but her pregnancy continues under state law

Adriana Smith's been on life support 90+ days with weeks to go in her pregnancy. Her family questions Georgia’s heartbeat law — and why they had no say in her care.

www.11alive.com

Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban

A hospital is using a breathing tube and other measures to keep a brain-dead Georgia woman's body functioning because she is pregnant.

apnews.com

 

[MelmothTheLost]

This case has been the subject of a lengthy and horrified discussion on a well-known UK social media site, Mumsnet. I cannot believe it won't lead to a further reduction in tourism from the UK, especially when you consider that much of that tourism involves women of child-bearing age, some of whom may be pregnant, travelling with their families.

 

[shinimeggie]

It is so immensely wrong to keep human beings alive via machines as living incubators, especially when the cells were nowhere near being a baby.

If someone has a living will saying they would want this, that is different. But assuming most people wouldn't want this insanity, I believe, is correct.

But I get to say that in a country that respects women's rights and as a queer woman in their 30s with no interest in having children.

I would be terrified to be a straight, sexually active woman in America right now and I am sad for my sisters across the pond who are scared and struggling.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

It is so immensely wrong to keep human beings alive via machines as living incubators, especially when the cells were nowhere near being a baby.

This woman is not being "kept alive". She is brain dead, which is generally accepted as definitive except in some US states. I would classify this as abuse of a corpse and prevention of lawful burial.

I would be terrified to be a straight, sexually active woman in America right now and I am sad for my sisters across the pond who are scared and struggling.

Indeed.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

It's worth flagging up Professor Thaddeus Pope's blog on medical futility cases where he has several posts about the case. His view is that there is nothing in Georgia state law which requires Adriana to be attached to machines for the remainder of her pregnancy. This may well trigger quite a lot of legal action.

Medical Futility Blog

A blog about medical futility, bioethics, end-of-life medicine, right to die, medical law, health law, patient rights, critical care and ICU ethics,

medicalfutility.blogspot.com

 

[Tutter]

This really doesn’t make sense to me, is it abortion if the mother dies? She is legally brain dead and allowing her to pass is not an abortion imo. I hope ‘they’ whoever the powers that be are, are not using her case as some sort of an example.

I also would support the family if they wanted to keep her on machines because they wanted to try to save the baby, but letting a brain dead person pass should not be considered abortion.
Moo

 

[shinimeggie]

This woman is not being "kept alive". She is brain dead, which is generally accepted as definitive except in some US states. I would classify this as abuse of a corpse and prevention of lawful burial.

Sorry, you are correct, I realised after I typed it she's not being 'kept alive', it's more than they're medically and lawfully not allowing her a respectful, peaceful death as she deserves imo

 

[Tutter]

This link has more info about Georgia laws

FACT CHECK: Is a pro-life law forcing a brain dead pregnant woman to stay on life support? - National Right to Life

By Nancy Flanders A pregnant woman in Georgia who has been declared brain dead is at the center of an ethical controversy, as she remains on life support until her preborn son can be delivered. The media has been quick to blame the state’s pro-life ‘heartbeat law’ for the situation, but an...

nrlc.org

AT A GLANCE:

• Removing a pregnant woman from life support does not constitute an “abortion” as defined by the Georgia LIFE Act, currently being blamed by the media.
• Due to the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act of 2007, removing a pregnant woman from life support is not legal in Georgia — unless her preborn child isn’t viable and she additionally has an advance directive that states her wishes to be withdrawn from life-sustaining measures. Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land when this act was passed.
• It does not appear that Smith had an advance directive in place

 

[orchidaceaes]

‘We’re just hoping he makes it’: Family shares update on unborn baby of Georgia mom who is brain dead, on life support

“He has his toes, arms, limbs — everything is forming,” Adriana Smith's mother said. “We're just hoping he makes it.”

www.11alive.com

The family has named the baby Chance and Adriana's mother says that he continues to grow and develop.

Attorney General: 'Heartbeat' law isn't behind brain-dead mother's case

Fetus has gestated for 90 days since death

www.11alive.com

"Friday afternoon, Attorney General Chris Carr's communications office issued a statement saying, "There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death. Removing life support is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy," wrote Carr's spokeswoman Kara Murray. She added "our prayers go out" to the woman's family."

 

[tlcya]

I hate this situation and my prayers go out to this young woman's family. I cannot imagine.

 

[Herat]

I hate this situation and my prayers go out to this young woman's family. I cannot imagine.

This is such a hard course for this family. They have to have the choice to do what they think is best.

 

[orchidaceaes]

This is such a hard course for this family. They have to have the choice to do what they think is best.

The lack of choice is the reason why this situation is so awful. If the family had been able to choose this route that would've been a different story, Adriana's pregnancy wouldn't have made the news and I wouldn't have made a thread. Even if Adriana's family would have made the decision to keep her body on life support to gestate the fetus - the fact that they had absolutely no say in the matter and that they are forced to endure this is horrific.

I'm also questioning how this situation came to be in the first place. The hospital just sent Adriana home with some medication without doing any testing. Would this have been preventable if they found the blood clot in a scan?

 

[CHEL]

The baby was born via c-section.

Cody Alcorn

UPDATE | Adrianna Smith’s baby was delivered through C-section The metro Atlanta nurse was declared brain dead in February while pregnant. Doctors were hoping she would make it until August but...

www.facebook.com

 

[tlcya]

Chance is aptly named. Prayers for him. Prayers for Adrianna's loved ones as they say their goodbyes. I am sorry this whole situation has been thrust upon them.

 

[Minou]

This is so horrific I almost can’t believe that it has happened and that it’s the USA this has happened in.

 

[otto]

This is like an obscene horror story where a dead woman is used as an incubator by medical professionals doing human experiments. What sort of ghoulish goons are behind this experiment, and what lifelong responsibility will they take for the incubated infant?

The pre-mature infant was removed from the dead woman's body at 25 weeks gestation and weighed less than 2 pounds. Short term, and lifelong, health problems for that experimental birth are listed on the mayoclinic link.

"Although doctors were hoping to keep Smith alive up until 32 weeks gestation, an emergency C-section was performed at 25 weeks gestation. It's unclear why the emergency C-section was needed. Baby Chance was born weighing 1 pound and 13 ounces and will require NICU care."

Pregnant brain-dead woman kept on life support raises ethical, legal questions

A pregnant brain-dead woman in Georgia was kept on life support until her fetus was viable. Experts say it raises ethical and legal questions.

6abc.com

Premature birth - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The pre-mature infant was removed from the dead woman's body at 25 weeks gestation and weighed less than 2 pounds. Short term, and lifelong, health problems for that experimental birth are listed on the mayoclinic link.

That baby will also have lacked pre-birth interaction with its mother. From what I have read, women who are happy in their pregnancy (which presumably Adriana was) constantly talk and sing to and generally interact with the foetus so mother and baby are bonded before the birth. How can this baby have had the same interaction with an inert lump of meat?

 

[airportwoman]

I can't be the only person who wonders if this woman, despite being an RN herself, was deliberately given substandard care to produce this scenario on purpose.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

This is so horrific I almost can’t believe that it has happened and that it’s the USA this has happened in.

On the contrary, the US is just about the only country in which this could happen - outside, perhaps, of one or two places in Central America.

 

[vls12345]

Georgia mom who delivered baby while brain dead to be laid to rest

Adriana Smith’s funeral is set for June 28. The Georgia mother’s case drew national attention after she remained on life support while pregnant.

www.11alive.com