Brain Dead Va. Mother Dies After Giving Birth
Baby Girl Named After Mother
UPDATED: 3:29 pm EDT August 3,
2005
RICHMOND, Va. -- A brain dead woman who was kept alive to ensure the live birth of the child she was carrying has died after being removed from life support.
Her husband made the decision to have her artificial life support system removed Wednesday morning, after Susan Torres gave birth to their baby Tuesday.Baby Susan Anne Catherine Torres was born by Caesarean section at 27 weeks' gestation. She weighed just under 2 pounds and is 13.5 inches long.The infant is being monitored in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, reported WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. The family said the baby is doing well and that there were no complications during the delivery. The baby is breathing on her own, and doctors say initial findings are that the newborn is cancer-free.The family said a brief goodbye to Susan Torres Wednesday morning as her last sacraments of the Catholic church were given. The machines that were keeping her alive for the past 12 weeks were turned off at her husband's request and Susan Torres passed away. She was 26."This is obviously a bittersweet time for our family," said Justin Torres, Susan Torres' brother-in-law. "While we are overjoyed at the birth of baby Susan, and deeply grieved over the loss of her mother."Justin Torres said little Susan will be told her mother "was one of the toughest human beings" he'd ever met.Susan Torres, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, lost consciousness from a stroke on May 7. Aggressive melanoma had spread to her brain, doctors said.Her husband, Jason Torres, said doctors told him his wife's brain functions had stopped. Jason Torres decided to quit his job to be by his wife's side, and last month her fetus passed the 24th week of development, the earliest point at which doctors felt the baby would have a reasonable chance to survive, her brother-in-law said.Doctors had hoped to hold off on delivering the child until 32 weeks' gestation. She was born at 27 weeks. A full-term pregnancy is about 40 weeks."The cancer was spreading very rapidly," Dr. Rodney McLaren said at a Wednesday news conference. "We were having more difficulting maintaining her vital organs by artificial support."There have been at least a dozen similar cases published in English medical literature since 1979, said Dr. Winston Campbell, director of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. The center has conducted research on the topic.
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- More Information: The Susan M. Torres Fund
Previous Stories:
- August 2, 2005: Va. Woman On Life Support Delivers Baby Girl
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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