Brain-dead woman delivers baby boy

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Brain-dead woman kept alive 54 days delivers baby boy
Doctors in Nebraska prolonged the life of a brain dead woman for 54 days so she could deliver a baby boy named Angel.

Karla Perez, 22, died two days after the delivery, the Washington Post reported late Friday. Angel weighed just 2 pounds, 12.6 ounces at birth.

The last time a brain-dead woman in the U.S. delivered a baby was 1999, the paper said.

Baby Angel was delivered earlier this month at Methodist Health System in Omaha.

The hospital said a team of more than 100 doctors, nurses and staff kept Angel's 22-year-old mother Karla Perez alive for 54 days -- just long enough to deliver the baby via cesarean section.

"Our team took a giant leap of faith," Sue Korth, vice president and COO of Methodist Women's Hospital, said in a statement Thursday announcing the successful procedure. "We were attempting something that not many before us have been able to do."

Perez collapsed in her home in Waterloo, Nebraska, on Feb. 8 after complaining of severe headaches. Doctors later determined she had suffered a brain bleed.

With her baby at just 22 weeks -- too young to survive outside the womb -- "it was then that we had decisions to make," said Dr. Andrew Robertson at the Methodist Women's Hospital.

Doctor's had hoped to sustain Perez long enough to deliver her baby at 32 weeks, but the young woman's condition deteriorated two weeks shy of the target date so Angel was delivered on April 4.

Angel was in an incubator and feeding through a tube, the hospital group said Thursday. "We are cautiously optimistic," said neonatologist Dr. Brady Kerr.

The baby is still in NICU and his family surrounded him with his mom's things hoping that her scent will keep the baby comfortable.

As for Karla, her organs helped save three people who were waiting for a transplant.
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doctors keep mom's body functioning for baby
 
It is sad that the mother passed at such a young age too...but the fact her life gave four is a death to be happy for.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
:( about the mother dying.
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She was already dead after two days of giving birth by her doctors. She was not dying but was brain dead before the birth. She is gone. :(

It is a risk for the baby boy to be 2 pounds which he would have to catch up with his weight. He has to stay in the hospital for that purpose.
 
This is really sad. Especially to me, as my 2nd baby boy was born Friday morning.

I don't know what I would do with two babies without my wife, their mother.
 
Wow, that's so expensive to keep the "dead" mother in hospital until baby is mature enough to born.
 
hoichi said:
But worth it...
Life is priceless.....
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worth it? I don't know about that. she was brain-dead for 54 days before the baby was delivered... wow

typically... if a pregnant woman is brain-dead, the doctor usually let both mom and baby die because the baby will develop severe medical problems and will not likely to survive after birth.

a mother's brain must be viable and working in order to regulate a "life support system" for a baby. with mother being brain-dead... the baby will need a 24/7 medical support to help regulate chemical balance and everything but the chance of success and survival is extremely extremely rare.

with 54 days left before birth... that is indeed a huge risk. let's see what happens if this baby survives first week without any serious medical problem.
 
Jiro said:
worth it? I don't know about that. she was brain-dead for 54 days before the baby was delivered... wow

typically... if a pregnant woman is brain-dead, the doctor usually let both mom and baby die because the baby will develop severe medical problems and will not likely to survive after birth.

a mother's brain must be viable and working in order to regulate a "life support system" for a baby. with mother being brain-dead... the baby will need a 24/7 medical support to help regulate chemical balance and everything but the chance of success and survival is extremely extremely rare.

with 54 days left before birth... that is indeed a huge risk. let's see what happens if this baby survives first week without any serious medical problem.
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so whats your peice tag on life then
yes i think this was worth it.

Rare sure.
But we will see...
 
hoichi said:
so whats your peice tag on life then
yes i think this was worth it.

Rare sure.
But we will see...
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price? none. just gotta face the fact.

a brain-dead preggie = a baby with extremely serious medical complications and most likely will die within a few days or even a couple weeks

so yea.... no price tag for that. just a plain stupidity just to "hope for the best". it's cruel. no price is ever worth that pain and suffering. if this baby survives... it is truly a miracle. a blessing from above.
 
Even though the mom was brain dead, her body must have been in fairly good shape because in addition to giving birth, they were able to use her organs to save the lives of three people. That means at least some of her organs were healthy and viable.
 
Jiro said:
price? none. just gotta face the fact.

a brain-dead preggie = a baby with extremely serious medical complications and most likely will die within a few days or even a couple weeks

so yea.... no price tag for that. just a plain stupidity just to "hope for the best". it's cruel. no price is ever worth that pain and suffering. if this baby survives... it is truly a miracle. a blessing from above.
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Angel is one month old; so far, so good.
 
Jiro said:
price? none. just gotta face the fact.

a brain-dead preggie = a baby with extremely serious medical complications and most likely will die within a few days or even a couple weeks

so yea.... no price tag for that. just a plain stupidity just to "hope for the best". it's cruel. no price is ever worth that pain and suffering. if this baby survives... it is truly a miracle. a blessing from above.
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Curious, where you get the connection between mother's brain condition to the health of the fetus? Everything I have come across tells that the fetus is generally born extremely premature and this in and of itself can and does cause numerous health issues for the child.
 
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