Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old Georgia nurse and mother, was only eight weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February due to a medical condition.
However, the family claims that the hospital legally required her to remain on life support in order for the fetus to grow. According to local Atlanta station 11Alive, the family claims doctors told them they couldn’t legally consider other options.
Smith’s baby was born last week via emergency Caesarean section, weighing less than 2 pounds and requiring care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), according to 11Alive.
In a statement to ABC News, Emory Healthcare, the health care system that oversees Emory hospitals, stated that its staff makes medical recommendations for patients based on a variety of factors.
“At Emory Healthcare, our top priorities remain the safety and well-being of the patients and families we serve. Emory Healthcare supports our providers’ medical recommendations with clinical expert consensus, medical literature, and legal guidance,” according to the statement. “Emory Healthcare is legally required to maintain the confidentiality of the protected health information of our patients, which is why we are unable to comment on individual matters and circumstances.”
The case has sparked national debate and raised numerous legal and ethical concerns about medical consent; who should be able to make decisions for permanently incapacitated people, particularly when pregnant; and whether abortion laws are complicating pregnancy care.
“This is a case that reflects the confusion in the post-Dobbs-era,” Michele Goodwin, the O’Neill professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown Law, told ABC News, referring to the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Because the hospital believed that it could not allow this brain-dead woman to simply be deceased because the state has a very strict abortion law, they believe that they needed to do all matters possible to keep the fetus alive,” according to her.
What happened to Adrian Smith?
Smith, 30, went to Northside Hospital in metro Atlanta in early February after experiencing severe headaches, her mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive.
According to Newkirk, Smith was given medication and then sent home. According to Newkirk, she was not given a CT scan or kept in for observation overnight.
Northside Hospital did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
According to Newkirk, Smith’s boyfriend awoke to her daughter gasping for air and took her to Emory Decatur — and then Emory University Hospital — where a CT scan revealed multiple blood clots in her brain. She was declared brain dead on February 19.
The family told the local station that doctors allegedly told them they were legally required to keep Smith on life support until the fetus was viable.
“I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision,” Newkirk told 11Alive. “And if not, then their partner or their parents.”
According to Newkirk, the family may not have chosen to end the pregnancy, but being unable to do so due to the law exacerbated their trauma, according to 11Alive.
