The case of Adriana Smith sparked controversy around the world after the pregnant Black woman was kept on life support machines for months after her death, in order for her unborn baby to survive
The family of a pregnant brain-dead woman who was kept on life support to incubate her premature foetus will live-stream her funeral to thank the people who donated to her medical funds.
Adriana Smith was a 30-year-old nurse who died in February this year after suffering from severe headaches. She was around nine weeks’ pregnant at the time, and had a seven-year-old existing son.
The day after being sent home from hospital, her boyfriend woke to the sounds of her gasping for air – but when she was rushed back to hospital, the pregnant mum was found to have blood clots on her brain.
After she was declared brain-dead – meaning there was zero chance of her ever recovering and regaining consciousness – Adriana was hooked up to life-support machines, which artificially kept blood pumping around her body.
Thanks to Georgia’s draconian pro-life laws, which ban abortion once a foetal heartbeat can be detected, doctors refused to take Adriana off the machines, instead planning to keep her body as an incubator until the foetus had reached viability in August.
Despite Adriana’s family’s pleas to let their daughter rest in peace,Emory University Hospital in Atlanta said it uses “consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers” as they make treatment recommendations “in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws”. It added: “Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve.”
The foetus, which Adriana’s family named ‘Chance’, was diagnosed in the womb with severe medical problems, and Adriana’s mother April Newkirk said at the time they weren’t even sure if he would survive the birth. He could, she said, be born with life-threatening disabilities which would affect his quality of life.
READ MORE: Brain-dead pregnant woman’s ’tissues rotting’ as docs refuse to switch off life support
After four months of being kept on life support, doctors finally delivered Chance via C-section in the early hours of June 13. He weighed just 538g, less than two pounds, but was born living at 27 weeks’ gestation. Doctors now say he is in a critical but stable condition.
Ms Newkirk wrote six days later, “Baby chance is doing good, keep praying it very early.”
She added: “I can’t believe this I [can’t] sleep but my God I serve I trust him I’m going to be strong but I’m hurting so bad inside.”
She later told press that her daughter was barely six months pregnant when Chance was cut out of Adriana’s womb, but he was “expected to be okay”.
“He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him,” she said, adding that Chance was “fighting for his life” in neo-natal intensive care.
READ MORE: Legally dead pregnant mum being kept alive on life support as ‘incubator’ for foetus
Shortly after the operation, doctors finally turned off the machines that had prolonged Adriana’s bodily functions and returned her remains to her devastated family.
The funeral will now be held on Saturday June 28, and Ms Newkirk has agreed to live-stream the ceremony so that the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who’ve been gripped by Adriana’s ordeal can help say their goodbyes.
“For everyone around the world. I am very grateful and thankful to you for your support,” she wrote on the family’s GoFundMe page, which has raised nearly $440,000 (£320,000) in donations for medical fees.
“Adriana Smith’s funeral will be livestream. And as soon as I get the link, I will share it for everyone to join me and my family. To say our final Farwell until we meet again my daughter,” she added.
“I want to thank everyone for the support that I received from each and every one of you. I am so grateful to have people from all over the world support. Please continue to pray for me and my family. I will update Monday about baby Chance.”
Adriana’s case has sparked debate around the world about America’s clampdown on abortion and women’s reproductive rights. Republican lawmakers in Georgia brought in the LIFE bill shortly after the Supreme Court struck down Roe vs Wade, which had allowed women to access abortion for 50 years, which severely restricts women from seeking termination of their pregnancy after around six weeks.
READ MORE: Brain dead Adriana Smith taken off life support after giving birth to tiny baby