A brain-dead pregnant woman is being kept alive, raising ethical questions
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What ethical issues arise from keeping a brain-dead pregnant woman alive?
But first, to an issue that abortion rights activists have spent years warning about, laws that restrict abortion or give legal rights to fetuses can lead to scenarios where the rights of the person who is pregnant get pitted against the fetus they're carrying.
How are Georgia's abortion laws affecting medical decisions?
We're seeing this play out in Georgia right now, where over the last few months, a hospital has been keeping a brain-dead pregnant woman alive so she can carry her pregnancy to term. Under Georgia law, abortion is banned in most cases after about six weeks of pregnancy.
What happened to Adriana Smith and her medical treatment?
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, went to a hospital in February when she was eight weeks pregnant with an intense headache. Her mother told the local NBC affiliate 11 Alive what happened next.
They gave us a medication, but they didn't do any tests. They didn't do any CT scans. If they did, they would have caught it.
What doctors had seemingly missed were blood clots in her brain. She was discharged. But just one day later, she woke up gasping for air, and she was rushed to a different hospital. Her blood clots were diagnosed, and within hours, she was declared brain dead.
What are the implications of the family’s decision regarding the baby?
But Smith's family says that doctors at Emory University Hospital have told them they cannot stop or remove the devices that are allowing Smith to continue breathing because of Georgia's abortion law. The law includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman. But in this case, the family says the doctors are claiming Smith's life is not at risk. So the rights the state affords to fetuses takes precedent. Georgia's attorney general released a statement saying that Georgia's law does not require medical professionals to keep a pregnant person alive on life support if they are brain dead. As of now, the hospital plans to keep her on life support until August when doctors intend to deliver her baby via C-section.
Emory Healthcare said it couldn't comment on the individual case for privacy reasons and that it seeks input from clinical and legal experts to make decisions. Smith's mother told the local NBC affiliate she believes it ultimately should have been up to the family to make this decision.
And I just want to be clear on something. We want her to have her baby. We want her life to continue throughout her children. But at the same time, to see her lady like that, for that length of time, the grieving process for us... It can't even start.
And she says doctors have told them the baby has fluid in the brain.
My grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk, will chip out. We don't know. if he'll live once she has him.
How has severe weather impacted Kentucky recently?
The family has decided to name the baby Chance. The director of the maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington University told the Washington Post the odds of the baby being born healthy by the end of this are, quote, very, very small. We are in the middle of severe weather season. The U.S. has seen over 850 tornadoes this year, much higher than the usual number for this time of year, which is around 600, according to the National Weather Service. The images coming out of Kentucky in particular are shocking. after a series of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes over the weekend, with entire neighborhoods flattened, homes destroyed, and communities in mourning. Carrie Davis from London, Kentucky, showed Fox News the wreckage of her home.
There's a trailer behind us that's on top of my house, a whole trailer, and it blew out the cars, and my neighbors were terrified. He got two broken legs, and she had a big laceration on her face, but she lived her whole life, and this has never happened in this area.
With the frequency and severity of major storms on the rise, this has raised questions about how well-equipped federal agencies like FEMA and NOAA are to prepare for and respond to severe weather events. Both have recently been subject to deep cuts by DOGE.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What ethical issues arise from keeping a brain-dead pregnant woman alive?
0:34–0:49
2
How are Georgia's abortion laws affecting medical decisions?
0:49–1:05
3
What happened to Adriana Smith and her medical treatment?
1:05–1:42
4
What are the implications of the family’s decision regarding the baby?
1:42–3:20
5
How has severe weather impacted Kentucky recently?
3:20–7:46
6
What are the effects of federal cuts on emergency services?
7:46–8:44
7
How does staffing affect the National Weather Service's performance?
8:44–14:31
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from Apple News Today
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