Fetus of brain-dead US woman ‘abnormal’
Print Edition
The pregnant, brain-dead Texas woman being kept on life support over her family’s protests is carrying a fetus that is “distinctly abnormal,” according to attorneys for the woman’s husband.
Marlise Munoz remains hooked up to machines in a Fort Worth hospital, while her husband and the hospital are locked in a court battle about whether to retain life support.
The case has raised questions about end-of-life care and whether a pregnant woman who is considered legally and medically dead should be kept on life support for the sake of a fetus.
Erick Munoz said his wife, a fellow paramedic, was clear with him before he found her unconscious on November 26: If she ever fell into this kind of condition, pull life support.
But John Peter Smith Hospital says it’s bound by state law that prohibits the withdrawal of treatment from a pregnant patient, although several experts have said the hospital is misapplying the law.
Munoz’s attorneys, Heather King and Jessica Hall Janicek, issued a statement on Wednesday describing the condition of the fetus, now believed to be at about 22 weeks’ gestation.
“According to the medical records we have been provided, the fetus is distinctly abnormal,” the attorneys said. “Even at this early stage, the lower extremities are deformed to the extent that the gender cannot be determined.”
The attorneys said the fetus also has fluid building up inside the skull and possibly has a heart problem.
“Quite sadly, this information is not surprising due to the fact that the fetus, after being deprived of oxygen for an indeterminate length of time, is gestating within a dead and deteriorating body, as a horrified family looks on in absolute anguish, distress and sadness,” the attorneys said.
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