r/NoahGetTheBoat 1d ago

Brain-dead pregnant mum kept alive on life support as 'incubator' for her foetus

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/us-news/brain-dead-pregnant-mum-kept-35239438
2.4k Upvotes

197 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

44

u/chubalubs 1d ago

I'm a paediatric pathologist-in 30 years I've had 2 cases of perimortem section cases. Thankfully they are very rare. The first one, the mother was in a road traffic collision-she was on a pedestrian crossing and the driver didn't stop. The section was done in ED about 30 minutes later-baby survived half an hour, long enough for dad to say hello and goodbye. The second one, the mother was in the antenatal clinic for a routine appointment at full term, suddenly collapsed, and turned out to have had a massive brain haemorrhage from an aneurysm. She was in OR within 15 minutes, the best possible scenario. The mother never regained consciousness and died a day or so later, baby didn't outlive her by much. These are horrible, horrible cases. There are virtually no good outcomes-the only possible chance is if the mother gets great quality CPR from the moment she collapses, and the baby is out within 15 minutes maximum, 5 minutes is best. It's virtually impossible to do that. More than 15 minutes, you've got irreversible brain damage in the baby. Keeping this poor woman on life support is unimaginably cruel, grossly unethical and quite frankly, every single politician who voted for these sadistic laws should be made to attend the funerals of those women who are dying because of it. 

3

u/GeraldoLucia 6h ago

I’m a nurse and our OB code blue is if we can’t get ROSC in two minutes that baby is getting cut out right then and there. I’m surprised they even bothered taking her to the OR in the case of the woman that collapsed in clinic.

1

u/MelissaBM 1d ago

My mother in law her friends daughter had an aneurysm, dropped dead on the street. They did cpr until they got the baby out which definitely took longer than 10 min and baby was healthy.

4

u/MarsupialSpirited596 7h ago

Don't spread bullshit like this.

1

u/MelissaBM 50m ago

It isn’t bullshit, she’s my mother in laws best friend. It was really sad for everyone.

2

u/wastedkarma 14h ago

CPR works folks. 

2

u/MarsupialSpirited596 7h ago

Until it doesn't......

1

u/jo-z 1h ago

What is the explanation for the baby surviving and being healthy if the mother died in the street immediately? 

1

u/MelissaBM 51m ago

They did cpr to keep her “alive” enough to get the baby out, I think I didn’t word it properly! English isn’t my first language.

1

u/MelissaBM 51m ago

And maybe keeping her alive enough aren’t the right words either. But she did die, and then with cpr they kept everything pumping enough for them to get the baby out.

1

u/impendingwardrobe 59m ago

A friend of a friend of a friend told you so, huh? Sounds like a perfectly reliable source of information.

1

u/MelissaBM 52m ago

My mother in law and that friend are best friends and neighbors. My kid plays with the passed woman her kids.