Parenting

Have we discussed? Brain dead pregnant mother

https://fw.to/67DiaYI Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when she collapsed and was declared brain dead. The hospital will not remove her from life support, against the families wishes. Texas, along with at least two dozen other states, prohibit cutting off life support to a pregnant patient. It provides striking similarities and differences to the Jahi case.
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Re: Have we discussed? Brain dead pregnant mother

  • I'm not 100% sure about my feelings on this. I do believe that the baby has a right to live. However, if it was my family member, it would probably be more complicated. It is a sad situation all around.
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  • My thoughts -

    1. If the baby will be fine than why does the family want the mother removed from life support?
    Because she is dead? 

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    C is 3 years old

  • @pobrecita I get where you're coming from. However, I always considered my kids to be babies, from the time I found out I was pregnant.

    @chickenonsunday I wonder about your first point too. I know, given the choice, lots of people would want the baby. I have read almost opposite stories of people fighting to keep them on support for the baby. It would be a miracle, as @uconnhuskie007 said.
  • It does sound morbid about her just being an incubator. I read another article about the family feeling that way. This is local for us, so it's gotten a lot of coverage.
  • missymomissymo member
    edited January 2014
    missymo said:
    My thoughts -

    1. If the baby will be fine than why does the family want the mother removed from life support?
    Because she is dead? 
    I agree that the parents of the  mother are quoted in the article but I scanned the article a second time to find a quote from the husband. He still goes and sits by her bedside.

    Also, this is article is a good reminder to everyone to have a will that includes end of life care.
    The husband wants to turn the machines off.   He does not want his dead wife's body to be an incubator.  She died when she was only 11 weeks pregnant or something.

    Eta: sorry, I see that it was 14 wks.

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    C is 3 years old

  • Sorry @auburngirlsc It is a horrible sad situation. It has been on our news the past couple of days. After the debate about Jahi, I thought this was another angle for discussion.
  • IDk, it's a tough decision.  I think that the husband/father gets to makes the decision for both, so they should be taken off life support.  But with that being said, as a mother, if there was a chance your child would survive, wouldn't you want that?   Because although my family knows I wouldn't want to be on life support I've never talked to them about being on life support and pregnant.  I asked DH and he said it would depend on how far along I was.  I do think that 14 weeks is very early, but if the fetus was, say 24 weeks, the earliest it could be viable, would that make a difference?

    The doctors say they will be able to tell more about the viability of the pregnancy/how the baby is doing when she's 22-24 weeks.  I'll be interested to see. The mother was denied oxygen for a while, but the body is designed to protect the fetus, so I'm very interested in the outcome. 
  • Throwing a wrench into this...I wonder what would happen if no one was there to take custody of the child...ie the dad was killed and there was no family. That would change my feelings, if it were my child. I agree with auburngirlsc. If it was me, I would want my child to have a chance. I don't know if I would want my child to grow up without any family though.
  • My thoughts -

    1. If the baby will be fine than why does the family want the mother removed from life support?
    2. The article states that the health and viability for the "fetus" remains unknown. I'm assuming this is b/c the hospital isn't able to discuss the medical details b/c the family has yet to allow this.
    3. Who is footing the bill?

    The bolded, but I agree this is such a tricky thing. 

    If the baby was a "wanted" baby (which I assume he/she is or was), wouldn't this woman's parents want to give the baby a shot?

    It's a really, really tough call though.

     

    BFP 1- EDD 2/09/11 Missed MC DX @11 weeks D&C- 7/25/10 BFP 2- EDD 12/22/11 Natural MC @ 5w 2d BFP 3- EDD 1/25/12 DD Josephine born 1/16/12

    Lilypie - (TUWi)

     

  • From what I read the law supersedes any will. I can see both sides, but it should be the husband's choice. He is being made to continue a pregnancy he doesn't want. It's basically like a women being kept in the hospital to stop her from having an abortion. 
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  • I find this disgusting. I feel so bad for this family.  “It’s about a matter of our daughter’s wishes not being honoured by the state of Texas.” Does this mean that she had a DNR?
  • DreadLoc said:
    "Erick Muñoz said that he and his wife are both paramedics — she with Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, he with the Crowley Fire Department — and that they had discussed removing life support if either fell into a vegetative state. Moreover, she discussed the issue with her father, Ernest Machado, he said."


    this seems to be why the family wanted to take her off life support.  she wished for it.
    The thing is though- did she specify her wishes while pregnant?  Because that could change her feelings( it would for me).  Like I wouldn't want to be in a vegetative state, DH knows that, but we never discussed the possibility of it happening to me while pregnant. DH and I discussed this last night (PSA: talk to your spouse/family).
  • Holy.fucking.shit. :( that poor poor man and family. This is so god damn full of no. NOOOPPPEEEE.
    I have so many thoughts, and have half typed out some longer responses, but this is what it boils down to for me too. 

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  • LolaCola29LolaCola29 member
    edited January 2014
    Regardless of anyone else's personal views on this, it should 100% be up to her husband.  It makes me sick thinking about my husband being in this situation.  My father was on life support for 3 months before my mother finally let him go, and it was the hardest thing in my life I've ever gone through.  I really can't imagine adding this into all the emotions that go on in that situation. 


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  • The problem is with the law (like I think was said in the second post). Even if she had gone on a news broadcast and told the entire world she's want to be taken off life support, the law still says she can't. 

    What I would do, or what you would do, is totally irrelevant because ultimately your family isn't making the decision, the law is. That's the real problem.  

    Don't bring in logic! It takes away the ability to debate.


    Yes, the law is stupid and fucked. I hate that the rights of the fetus supersede the rights of the woman. It's insane.


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  • MrsButt said:
    The family wants her off life support. She should be taken off of life support. End of story.
    this exactly. 

  • pobrecita said:
     But with that being said, as a mother, if there was a chance your child would survive, wouldn't you want that?  

    No. I would want my husband or father of the child to make whatever decision he is comfortable with.
    this


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  • The law was not written for this case, obviously, but it impacts it in a big way. Would any of your feelings change if the baby was viable? What if this had happened at 32 weeks, and they planned to wait it out to 36. Even at 32 weeks, the chance of survival is great. You cannot terminate a pregnancy that late in the game. It is unfortunate that it has impacted this family. I know my feelings on things and my stance on issues. I still can't say what I would do if I or a member of my family were in this situation.
  • The law was not written for this case, obviously, but it impacts it in a big way. Would any of your feelings change if the baby was viable? What if this had happened at 32 weeks, and they planned to wait it out to 36. Even at 32 weeks, the chance of survival is great. You cannot terminate a pregnancy that late in the game. It is unfortunate that it has impacted this family. I know my feelings on things and my stance on issues. I still can't say what I would do if I or a member of my family were in this situation.
    I think my feelings would change if it were later in the pregnancy. 

    It's sick to think that this could go on until the baby is full term, then what? At 30some weeks the court rules the family was right THEN they should terminate a practically fully grown baby? 

    Is it possible for the family to move her to one of the states that doesn't uphold this law and take her off life support?! 
  • The law was not written for this case, obviously, but it impacts it in a big way. Would any of your feelings change if the baby was viable? What if this had happened at 32 weeks, and they planned to wait it out to 36. Even at 32 weeks, the chance of survival is great. You cannot terminate a pregnancy that late in the game. It is unfortunate that it has impacted this family. I know my feelings on things and my stance on issues. I still can't say what I would do if I or a member of my family were in this situation.

    No, my feelings would not change. The government should stay out of this decision.


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  • I don't really feel like this should be legislated period, regardless of age of fetus. 

    Personally, I think there is a difference between a 14 week fetus (and waiting to see what happens, making the family wait in this weird limbo for ages to see if the fetus will even survive, and then what sort of medical issues the child will have) and a 28, 32, 36, etc., week fetus.  That child has a good chance of survival, and I would assume that they could deliver the baby right away.  Unless of course the family wanted to keep the woman on life support to try and keep the baby in a bit longer.

    But, there are too many questions at 14 weeks, and it just seems so awful to keep this family in limbo forever against their wishes. 



  • So what happens if they do determine that the baby isn't maturing like it should at 22-24 weeks or there WILL be complications later down the road?  Does the hospital say "Oh well, abort mission.  This "hypothesis" didn't turn out like we thought it would."  Do they, then, decide to terminate both lives?

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  • What a sad situation for everybody.  

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  • Here's the thing, I totally understand the thought process of "if it were my child I'd want them to have a chance". However, it's out of the mother's hands because, well, she's not alive. I know this sounds harsh but it isn't up to her anymore.
  • @krptcmschfmkr128 I kind of see your point. However, if it was an actual child on life support, there would be a medical diagnosis on said child. Here, there is the unknown. For me, that's the sticking point. This child could be born with little to no issues. It could lead a long, healthy happy life.
  • Here's a story from May 2012 that has a different take on it, but also has a few statistics. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-dead-mom-gives-birth-to-twins-while-on-life-support
  • @krptcmschfmkr128 I kind of see your point. However, if it was an actual child on life support, there would be a medical diagnosis on said child. Here, there is the unknown. For me, that's the sticking point. This child could be born with little to no issues. It could lead a long, healthy happy life.

    But it's still the father's choice.


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