In the San José hospital in Lisbon there has been a scientific miracle that has shocked everyone. A case that shows that life makes its way despite the toughest conditions.
A 37-year-old woman died on February 20 pregnant with her second child due to intracranial hemorrhage. His body was maintained with artificial life so that it could function as a human incubator for the baby, what born at 32 weeks gestation, 55 days after his mother died.
When considering the possibilities, the Ethics Commission of the hospital decided, together with the mother's family, to continue the pregnancy while maintaining the basic functions of the woman until the baby was able to survive outside the uterus, taking into account the good health that showed.
During the time the mother has been brain dead, his body was fed hormonally and nutritionally, "With substances existing in the human organism under normal conditions", according to the obstetrician who participated in the process.
The girl was born by caesarean section with 32 weeks gestation and weighed 2,350 kilos, a weight slightly above the usual at that gestational age.
Although all medical tests and ultrasounds have been favorable and there are no major sequelae in the baby, at the moment there are no injuries but doctors neither can they ensure that there is no brain damage. When you turn 40 or 42 weeks you will have a brain MRI to confirm it.
Keep it alive or not? The ethical debate
"After receiving the opinion of the Ethics Committee and the Hospital of Lisbon, the management decided in a concerted manner with the family of the mother and the father of the child, the maintenance of the pregnancy until 32 weeks in order to ensure the viability of the fetus, ”the hospital said Tuesday afternoon.
A scientific council composed of a representative of the medical associations, one of the Ethics Committee, an obstetric care team and another of intensivists was appointed to monitor the entire process.
A case that raises an ethical debate since if the father or any family member took care of the child, what to do with that life? In this case it has not been so, but having been rejected by the family, the prosecutor was prepared to assume the legal guardianship of the girl.
There have been more similar cases, the most recent in Poland, where the mother's body was also maintained casually during the same period of time, 55 days. There has also been a case in our country, in Gijón, where a baby was born at 29 weeks gestation almost two months after his mother died.
