Brain Dead Woman Gives Birth!

Not too sure whether this is a matter for ATS, but i couldnt believe what i was reading!

A brain dead woman giving birth to a child.....WOW!!!!!

A brain-dead woman on life support has given birth to a baby girl, the woman's brother-in-law said.

Susan Torres gave birth to Susan Anne Catherine Torres at 8:18 a.m. on Tuesday, Justin Torres wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Susan Torres, 26, lost consciousness from a stroke May 7 after aggressive melanoma spread to her brain. Her husband, Jason Torres, said doctors told him his wife's brain functions had stopped.

There were no complications during delivery and the baby "is doing well," Torres wrote. The baby weighs one pound 13 ounces and is 13 1/2 inches long, he said.

Link To Full Story!!!!!


Mic

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I just had a horrible sick thought [especially on a conspiracy web site],
Imagine a room full of brain dead women used as incubators for possibly implanted embryos.

I wonder if the child would be affected by being inside a brain dead mother. Would that have psychological implications? Would they lack the sense that there is some mind out there that cares for and loves them?

On a more even note the story doesn't specify if the birth was natural or ceasarian. That would have implications for autonomic level ability to give birth to a child.
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Thats some freaky stuff there.

I am curious to, what if any kind of psychological effects this might have on the child.

From a purely pragmatic point of view...

All a fetus needs is an incubator of sorts.

As long as the incubator can provide oxygen and nutrition, there wouldn't be a physiological problem.

The family might simply tell the child that Mom died during childbirth....then again though, I'm honestly not seeing how the truth would actually be any worse? If anything, they'd be inclined to paint the mother as a hero, surely? Or perhaps not mention it at all.

More about the case here

The baby isn't out of the woods yet, sadly; she still has a big fight ahead of her.

(CNN reported that the birth was by c-section)

I can tell you *I* would want to be on life support as long as possible if I were pregnant. I am guessing the baby was about 26 or so weeks gestation. The baby is female, so that is a positive for her. Male babies don't do as well as female ones. Especially white male babies. In the NICU, they called them "wimpy white boys".

If all goes well, she could grow up to be perfectly normal and healthy. She also has a chance of having alot of disabilities. Psychological issues would be the last thing on my worry list. I would venture to guess they will present her mother as a hero hanging on for her daughter's life. I know it would just make me love my Mother's sacrifice.

I feel awful for the family. A 2 year old, a husband who now has to deal with the death of his wife, a child with an unknown future and a small child who is going to be devastated at the loss of his mother

I'd probably feel the same way.

But then again...

There's still a chance the melanoma may have metastasized across the placenta; they're having to monitor the baby for that too, in addition to the potential troubles caused by her being born so early.

I really do feel for the family, yes.

And it's even more tragic that this recurrence wasn't noted before the pregnancy, or indeed, before it became so unrelenting.

Originally posted by slank
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I just had a horrible sick thought [especially on a conspiracy web site],
Imagine a room full of brain dead women used as incubators for possibly implanted embryos.

Why would they do that? It's much easier and less expensive and less chancy for them to use non-brain dead women. When the brain ceases functioning, the whole system goes downhill slowly (she was electrically brain dead. Flatline.) They had to take the baby at this stage because her body wasn't going to last much longer.

I wonder if the child would be affected by being inside a brain dead mother.

Yes, because the body is physically dying. This means that the placenta could also fail and you constantly have to monitor for nutrition and urea buildup and a thousand other tiny things that your body takes care of.

Would that have psychological implications? Would they lack the sense that there is some mind out there that cares for and loves them?

No to the first, and who knows to the second. There are a number of children born to both brain dead and to dead women (baby was quickly removed from a dead woman.) There will be implications if you set the child up to be emotionally scarred. But if they were put with a family and nobody had any inkling of their history, then no... you wouldn't see a thing.

On a more even note the story doesn't specify if the birth was natural or ceasarian. That would have implications for autonomic level ability to give birth to a child.

Caeserian. Her body had failed and was on total life support. There was no way she could give normal birth. The hope was that she would last long enough so that the baby would have a chance of surviving.

Heh. You can tell the women on this forum paid attention to this story...

[edit on 3-8-2005 by Indellkoffer]

Originally posted by slank
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I just had a horrible sick thought [especially on a conspiracy web site],
Imagine a room full of brain dead women used as incubators for possibly implanted embryos.

I wonder if the child would be affected by being inside a brain dead mother. Would that have psychological implications? Would they lack the sense that there is some mind out there that cares for and loves them?

On a more even note the story doesn't specify if the birth was natural or ceasarian. That would have implications for autonomic level ability to give birth to a child.
.

Wow....now that you put that horrific thought in my mind, it seems like exactly something the government would do....I mean...why have a woman who will argue, and not agree to be a test subject, when they can have a secret bomb shelter....FILLED with braindead women on life support, ready to be impregnated at their desire, with ANY type of baby....such as some cloned DNA, mutated DNA...who knows what kinds of experiments they could come up with?

This is a wonder.....yet it is also a disturbing miracle we've discovered....At for the clones they breed....maybe there put in a stasis, to let them be preserved in some gooey material, floating inside a glass case, to have TONS of babies, or cloned babies, or mutated babies, around, just incase they require research, or a backup amount of children if some bomb hits or something....

Hmm........

Oh, and that's not true at all, the person above.....brain dead people, who have no brain function, can have their bodies kept alive for years, there was a case where parents kept there daughter alive after an operation caused her braindeath, the life support systems/IV nutrition/iron lung, ect they put in, kept her alive, for 22 years, only AFTER they decided to cut it, so I'm sure it would be MUCH easier, than a mother kicking or screaming not wanting to be used for tests, and then afterwards, not letting her baby go. (I certainly wouldn't)

[edit on 3-8-2005 by QuestForSafety]

Hmmm, speculation aside about living incubators. The child was 28 week gestation according to reports that I read. but is also 1.3 lbs which is a bit inconsistent with the reported weight.

The child is at risk for:

NEC: necrotising enterocolitis
ROP: Retinopathy of Prematurity
Intercranial bleeds graded 1-4 depending on severity

From a psychological standpoint, I don't know. The child will simply grow up with one parent as opposed to two so its psych development will rest with the sole parent as opposed to two. There are plenty of single parents out there and kids grow up fine. They also have an adaptability that you and I have forgotten.

Originally posted by FredT
Hmmm, speculation aside about living incubators. The child was 28 week gestation according to reports that I read. but is also 1.3 lbs which is a bit inconsistent with the reported weight.

The child is at risk for:

NEC: necrotising enterocolitis
ROP: Retinopathy of Prematurity
Intercranial bleeds graded 1-4 depending on severity

From a psychological standpoint, I don't know. The child will simply grow up with one parent as opposed to two so its psych development will rest with the sole parent as opposed to two. There are plenty of single parents out there and kids grow up fine. They also have an adaptability that you and I have forgotten.

This is exactly true, there have been tons of case studies on children who are born from a mother whom dies before they are even born, and can be raised normal, healthy, and properly psychologically, as any child. It's just old wives tales thinking things like a baby will be 'defective' psychologically, if they didn't get proper psychic signals from the mothers mind during birth.......

In reality, it comes down to the premise of children being raised the 'old fashioned way', with a mother, and father. However OBVIOUSLY due to tons of new situations, single dads, single moms, gay couples adopting, ect, it's been proven children pretty much thrive in whatever situation, IF the parents are loving, and nurturing, and caring for them.

Also, speculation aside? It's really speculating to say it might have any of those diseases, as there's probably just a good a chance the baby could not, it all depends on how well they can help it function, and keep within normal parameters within the early stages.

[edit on 4-8-2005 by QuestForSafety]

Its hardly fair to call her "brain dead", alot of them do it!

Originally posted by instar
Its hardly fair to call her "brain dead", alot of them do it!

*Sighs*

You know your the worst. N no I don't mean cruelty......you KNOW what I mean! =P

Silly.

LOL ok serious reply.

Its fascinating and a wonderful thing it was possible due tecknology n modern medicine, must been millions of babies in past died in the womb
because todays help wasnt avail.
On another note I wonder how the child will cope with learning its motherwas "dead" before it was born?