Miracle baby born healthy despite his mother being brain dead for four months

A baby has been born in Portugal to a woman who had been brain dead for almost four months. The little boy was delivered in a hospital in the capital Lisbon by Caesarean section after 32 weeks, and weighed 5lb 3oz.

His 37-year-old mother, who has not been named, was declared brain dead on February 20 after a haemorrhage. The decision to continue with the pregnancy was taken after tests revealed the foetus to be healthy, and after the father agreed it should be allowed to continue.

Doctors said the baby was perfectly healthy health when he was born on Tuesday. They did not specify whether the boy’s mother is still on life support.

“The foetus appeared to be in good health,” the Sao Jose hospital said, so “the decision was taken with the family to follow through with the pregnancy.”

The statement added that the hospital’s ethics committee, the baby’s father and mother’s family all agreed with the procedure. Luis Graca, the head of the Portuguese Society of Obstetricians, said today the birth was “an extraordinary feat.”

“They were lucky that the mother hung in there all that time,” she added. “Most women die in these situations. It is extremely difficult to keep the pregnant woman alive by mechanical means while ensuring that the foetus advances.”

In a statement, the hospital said: “Following the opinion of the ethics committee and clinical management of that hospital, and a concerted decision by the mother’s family and the paternal family of the child, it was agreed to maintain the pregnancy up to 32 weeks in order to ensure the viability of the foetus.”

The hospital’s board of directors appointed a specific advisory council to monitor the situation comprising a member of the doctors’ college, a representative of the ethics committee, an obstetrician and the team looking after the woman in intensive care.

In January, a baby boy was born in Wroclaw, Poland, after surviving for 55 days in the womb of his mother, who was declared brain dead after a tumour. He weighed just over two pounds at birth, and spent three months in intensive care but was allowed home in April. Doctors at Wroclaw Medical University kept the mother alive while they waited for the boy to grow.

The 41-year-old mother was taken to hospital 17 weeks into the pregnancy with an incurable brain tumour but had refused treatment hoping her child could be born. Her life support was switched off after the birth. Doctors delivered the baby when they judged the boy’s life was in danger.

In 2099 a premature but healthy baby has been born to a woman who had been declared brain dead two days previously at Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital. The little girl was delivered by Caesarean section at 25 weeks, weighing just over two pounds.

Her mother Jayne Soliman, a 41-year-old former ice-skating star who had competed at international level, did not recover after suffering a brain haemorrhage when she collapsed at home. Doctors kept the mother’s heart beating for 48 hours after she was declared brain dead in order to deliver the baby.

They gave her two large doses of steroids to help the baby’s lungs develop. They turned off the life support shortly after the girl was born. Her Egyptian-born father named her “Aya” which means miracle in Arabic.

Mirror