On June 3, AAPLOG published a podcast episode on brain death during pregnancy featuring Charlie Camosy, PhD, Creighton University professor of medical humanities, and Susan Bane, MD, PhD, board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and Vice Chair of AAPLOG’s Board of Directors.
The episode centers on the tragic case of Adriana Smith, the 30-year-old Georgia mother and nurse who suffered from multiple blood clots in the brain when she was eight weeks pregnant and was declared brain dead one week later. Adriana has been kept on life support for the past three months; doctors are hoping that her preborn son, who is now 23 weeks’ gestation, can be delivered close to 32 weeks.
According to her family, her doctors believe that they are required to do this because of Georgia’s abortion law, which bans induced abortion and recognizes the humanity of a preborn child starting when his or her heartbeat can be detected (around 6 weeks’ gestation.) This case has sparked fierce debate about whether the state’s abortion law does require pregnant women who have been declared brain dead to be kept alive, and about whether doing so respects the dignity of pregnant women. Notably, the Georgia Attorney General’s office has stated that the state’s abortion law does not apply in this case. A more plausible explanation is that Georgia’s brain death laws, which do require keeping pregnant women on life support unless their preborn child will not survive, are what motivated her hospital’s decision not to withdraw life-sustaining care.
In this podcast episode, Dr. Camosy offers essential insights on brain death during pregnancy, including context on what brain death is and how pro-life medical professionals can best respect the life and dignity of both pregnant and preborn patients when treating cases like this tragic story.
You can watch the full episode here.
