Maternal brain death during pregnancy. Medical and ethical issues.
We present in detail a case of a 27-year-old primigravida who was maintained in a brain-dead state for nine weeks. An apparently normal and healthy male infant weighing 1440 g was delivered. The newborn did well and was found to be growing and developing normally at 18 months of age. Although the technical aspects of prolonged life support are demanding and the economic costs are very high (+217,784), there are ample ethical arguments justifying the separation of brain death and somatic death and the maintenance of the brain-dead mother so that her unborn fetus can develop and mature.
Field
D R
DR
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0132.
Gates
E A
EA
Creasy
R K
RK
Jonsen
A R
AR
Laros
R K
RK
D000328:Adult; D026686:Beneficence; D001926:Brain Death; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D028681:Moral Obligations; D033282:Parental Consent; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D037841:Pregnant People; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors