A February 12, 2014 www.cnn.com story entitled "Brain-Dead Canadian Woman Dies after Son's Birth" detailed a tragic scenario in which a pregnant woman named Robyn Benson suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was declared brain-dead. Fortunately such horrors are rare. The "silver lining" in this tale, however, was the fact that the fetus remained viable and was able to be delivered safely, via C-section, after the father requested that his brain-dead pregnant wife remain on a ventilator until a safe birth could be accomplished.
The LIBERTARIAN BIOETHICS BLOGger has no complaints about the handing of this tragedy by anyone involved in the case. Justice was served. The husband of the brain-dead woman was clearly the "owner" of his brain-dead pregnant wife's body. Thus, he wielded ultimate decision-making authority regarding the disposition of the body. After learning that the fetus remained viable, he chose to request that her brain-dead body remain on a ventilator until a safe C-section delivery could be attempted. The relevant physicians and hospital administration agreed to proceed with the husband's request due to the probable positive outcome of the C-section. After the C-section was performed (the birth of the apparently health baby), the mother was disconnected from the ventilator and died peacefully.
The only quibble I have with this story is that the reporter, Paula Newton, failed to mention the age of the fetus at the time of the fatal cerebral hemorrhage. I am curious if the fetus was more or less than 24 weeks status-post fertilization at the instant of brain-death. Why? I believe that a rights-bearing human emerges at approximately week 24 status-post fertilization based on functional brain activity (evidenced by bilaterally synchronous EEG activity). If the fetus was 24 weeks of age or older and viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been a crime - murder to be specific - to disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator, for this action would have caused the death of the rights-bearing fetus. If the fetus was 24 weeks of age or older and non-viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been medical malpractice to not disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator. If the fetus was less than 24 weeks of age and viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would not have been a crime to disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator, for this action would have caused the death of a non-rights-bearing fetus. If the fetus was less than 24 weeks of age and non-viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been medical malpractice to not disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator. So, without additional information, I cannot further categorize this story.
The LIBERTARIAN BIOETHICS BLOGger has no complaints about the handing of this tragedy by anyone involved in the case. Justice was served. The husband of the brain-dead woman was clearly the "owner" of his brain-dead pregnant wife's body. Thus, he wielded ultimate decision-making authority regarding the disposition of the body. After learning that the fetus remained viable, he chose to request that her brain-dead body remain on a ventilator until a safe C-section delivery could be attempted. The relevant physicians and hospital administration agreed to proceed with the husband's request due to the probable positive outcome of the C-section. After the C-section was performed (the birth of the apparently health baby), the mother was disconnected from the ventilator and died peacefully.
The only quibble I have with this story is that the reporter, Paula Newton, failed to mention the age of the fetus at the time of the fatal cerebral hemorrhage. I am curious if the fetus was more or less than 24 weeks status-post fertilization at the instant of brain-death. Why? I believe that a rights-bearing human emerges at approximately week 24 status-post fertilization based on functional brain activity (evidenced by bilaterally synchronous EEG activity). If the fetus was 24 weeks of age or older and viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been a crime - murder to be specific - to disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator, for this action would have caused the death of the rights-bearing fetus. If the fetus was 24 weeks of age or older and non-viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been medical malpractice to not disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator. If the fetus was less than 24 weeks of age and viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would not have been a crime to disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator, for this action would have caused the death of a non-rights-bearing fetus. If the fetus was less than 24 weeks of age and non-viable at the time of the tragedy, then it would have been medical malpractice to not disconnect the brain-dead body from the ventilator. So, without additional information, I cannot further categorize this story.
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