Georgia Hospital says that following state law to continue life support for pregnant women
Three months after a pregnant woman in Georgia declared her brain dead in a medical emergency, her family said her family told them under the state’s strict anti-abortion laws.
Adriana Smith's family says Emory University Hospital Doctors told them they are not allowed to stop or remove devices that keep breathing because state laws prohibit miscarriages after heart activity can be detected – usually six weeks after pregnancy.
With more than three months to go before the deadline, it may be one of the longest pregnancy in this kind of pregnancy. Her family is upset by the laws that restrict abortion once heart activity is discovered, which does not allow relatives to have a say in whether pregnant women get life support.
The law was passed in 2019, but until Roev. The law was enforced after Wade's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruled by the Supreme Court.
Her mother, Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain dead in February.
Newquake said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing snorkels and other life-saving devices can kill the fetus.
Emory Healthcare said it was unable to comment on individual cases due to privacy rules, but issued a statement saying, “Using a consensus of clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers because they make personalized treatment recommendations under Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws, our best priority is our safety.
At all stages of pregnancy, twelve states are banning abortions, and three other states start around six weeks, like Georgia’s.
Like everyone else, Georgia's ban includes an exception if an abortion is required to maintain a woman's life.
Legal confusion about fetal rights
Newquake said her daughter had a severe headache three months ago and went to the Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke up gasping and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined that there was a blood clot in her brain and she was declared brain dead.
Smith's family, including her five-year-old son, is still visiting her in the hospital.
Newkirk told WXIA that doctors told families that the fetus was flowing in the brain and they were worried about his health.
“She is pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind and may not be able to walk and cannot survive once he is born.”
She didn't say whether the family wanted Smith to be removed from life support.
The chief plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging Georgia abortion law in the lawsuit said the situation was problematic.
“Her family should have the right to have decision-making power over her medical decisions,” Simpson said in a statement. “Instead, they have experienced over 90 days of re-publishing, expensive medical expenses and cruelty that cannot be resolved and move towards recovery.”
Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she believes that life support is not legally required in this case.
But she said whether a country can insist that Smith continues to maintain support for life since Roy’s overthrow, finding that the fetus has no right.
“Female, the fetus has no rights,” Shepherd said. “The state's interest in fetal life cannot be so strong to overcome other important rights, but now we don't know.”
Complications often occur under known conditions
Brain deaths in pregnancy are rare. A rare situation remains when a doctor prolongs pregnancy after announcing brain death.
A 2021 review searched for medical literature, dating back decades when doctors declared a woman brain death and aimed at prolonging pregnancy. It found 35.
27 of these resulted in on-site births, with most people immediately declaring healthy or taking normal follow-up tests. But Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, who co-authored the study, also warned that the case in Georgia is much more difficult, because pregnancy is not so great when women are declared brain death.
Of the 35 cases he studied, doctors were able to extend their pregnancy by an average of only seven weeks, and complications forced them to intervene.
“It's hard to get a mother out of infection,” said Berghella, director of maternal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Berghella also found a case from Germany when the woman was declared brain dead within nine weeks of her pregnancy, about the time of Smith's death.
Georgia law gives the fetus personality. Those who agree with personality say that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetus should be considered people with the same rights as those who have been born.
Georgia Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsors the 2019 law, said he supports Emory's explanation.
“I think it's perfectly appropriate for the hospital to do everything it can to save the life of the child,” Seitzler said. “I think it's an unusual situation, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital behaves normally.”
During a CBS News vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Democratic candidate Tim Walz refuted the comments from Republican candidate JD Vance that the state should make its own abortion decision by referring to Georgia women who died while trying to visit state legal processes. “If Amber Thurman lives in Minnesota, she will be alive, it's a big opportunity,” Walz said.
Seitzler said he thought it would be acceptable to sometimes remove life support from brain-dead people, but the law is “proper check” because the mother is pregnant. He said Smith's relatives had “good options” including keeping the child or providing adoption.
Georgia’s abortion ban has been a focus of people before.
Last year, Propublica reported that two Georgia women died after receiving proper treatment for complications from taking abortion pills. Amber Thurman and Candi Miller's story took part in the presidential election, and Democrat Kamala Harris said the death was the result of an abortion ban in Georgia and elsewhere after Dobbs.
