Latest news with #EmoryDecaturHospital
7NEWS
18-06-2025
- Health
- 7NEWS
Baby of brain-dead US woman Adriana Smith kept alive under Georgia abortion law delivered
The baby of Adriana Smith, a brain-dead pregnant woman in the US who has been kept alive by ventilators under Georgia's abortion law, has been delivered. The baby, named Chance, was born prematurely via emergency cesarean section on Friday, Smith's mother April Newkirk said. Chance weighed about one pound 13 ounces (822g) and is in the neonatal intensive care unit. 'He's expected to be OK,' Newkirk said. 'He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him.' Smith also has an older son. Newkirk did not immediately respond to a new request for comment. She previously said the family was required to keep Smith alive under the state's near-total abortion ban, known as the LIFE Act. Smith, whose family celebrated her 31st birthday on Sunday, has been hospitalised since February after she initially sought treatment for severe headaches, her family has said. Newkirk said Smith initially went to Northside Hospital but was released and given medication. She said the hospital did not run any scans or tests. Northside did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A day after she sought treatment, Smith's boyfriend woke to find her gasping for air and making gargling noises, Newkirk said. Smith was rushed to Emory Decatur Hospital and transferred to Emory University Hospital, where a CT scan showed multiple blood clots in her brain. Newkirk said her daughter was declared brain-dead and placed on a ventilator. Smith will be taken off life support on Tuesday, local time. 'It's kind of hard, you know,' she said. 'It's hard to process.' In Georgia, abortions are illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions include some situations to protect women's lives and health, when fetal anomalies are detected and in cases of rape and incest that have been documented with police. The state Attorney General's Office said in May that nothing in the LIFE Act 'requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death'. The office said removing a patient from life support 'is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy'. However, Republican state senator Ed Setzler, who sponsored the 2019 law, told The Associated Press that he supported the hospital's actions. 'I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,' he said. 'I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. 'I think the hospital is acting appropriately.' Emory Healthcare did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson said in a statement last month that it 'uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualised treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws'.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Family forced to keep brain-dead daughter alive due to Georgia abortion law: ‘It's torture'
Adriana Smith was declared brain-dead in February but is being kept alive because she was nine weeks pregnant at the time. The family of a 30-year-old mother and nurse in Atlanta is being forced to keep her alive even though she has been declared brain-dead for more than 90 days. She was nine weeks pregnant at the time, and the state of Georgia has a strict ban on abortion after six weeks. In early February, Adriana Smith, a registered nurse at Emory University Hospital, started experiencing excruciating headaches. While roughly nine weeks pregnant, she visited a local hospital because she knew 'enough to know something was wrong.' However, her mother, April Newkirk, told 11 Alive News the hospital just gave her some medication and sent her home without running any extended tests, like a CT scan. 'If they had done that or kept her overnight, they would have caught it. It could have been prevented,' Newkirk said. The next morning, Smith's boyfriend found her gasping for air in her sleep. He called 911, and Smith was taken to Emory Decatur Hospital before being transferred to Emory University Hospital, where she worked. Results from a CT scan came back revealing multiple blood clots in her brain. Doctors were preparing to operate on Smith when they came to the conclusion it was too late, and she was declared brain dead. In the weeks since that fateful day, Smith has been kept alive through life support, on breathing machines for over 90 days, because of the state's ban on abortion. Doctors are hoping to keep her alive until around 32 weeks of gestation when they think the fetus will be viable outside of the womb. Smith is currently at 21 weeks. 'It's torture for me,' Newkirk told the outlet. 'I see my daughter breathing, but she's not there.' The grandmother added how it's been especially heartbreaking seeing her grandson, Smith's young son, believe his mother is 'just sleeping.' After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, later that same year, Georgia enacted a ban on abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat, which is typically around six weeks. Since it was passed, at least two of the first deaths linked to the ban have been Black women: Amber Thurman, who died after medical intervention in a legal abortion was delayed, and Candi Miller, who died after she was afraid to seek care because of the ban. There are exceptions to the law in the case of rape, incest, or if the mother's life is in danger. However, Smith's particular case lands in the law's gray area, and so her family is legally required to keep her on life support until the fetus is viable. According to Newkirk, the family was informed there was fluid on the fetus's brain and that there was a possibility the baby may not be able to see, walk, or even survive once born. 'This decision should've been left to us. Now we're left wondering what kind of life [the baby will] have—and we're going to be the ones raising him,' she said. In addition to the emotional toll, Newkirk said the family is also becoming increasingly concerned about the cost associated with Smith's care. The young mother still has weeks ahead of intensive ongoing medical care. 'They're hoping to get the baby to at least 32 weeks,' Newkirk said. 'But every day that goes by, it's more cost, more trauma, more questions.' More must-reads: Megan Thee Stallion's lawyer responds to recent claims about Tory Lanez case Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signs bill to tap unused ACA insurance funds for abortion grant program What to know about the upcoming Supreme Court arguments in the birthright citizenship case
