A baby is born to a mother with brain death for three months

A baby was born by caesarean section at the São João Hospital in Porto, northern Portugal, after almost 32 weeks from a mother who had been brain dead for three months.

The head of neonatology at the health center, Hercília Guimarães, explained that she had decided to advance the planned cesarean section this Friday because the mother had presented "respiratory deterioration" the last morning.

The baby is born after 31 weeks and six days of gestation with 1.7 kg, an "adequate" weight for his gestational age, according to Guimarães, who stated that he was "well born".

Salvador, the name given to the child, necessary respiratory support at birth, although the head of neonatology felt that it was common in babies born at 32 weeks.

The hospital decided to try to extend the pregnancy to 32 weeks, because this is the moment that marks the barrier between premature and moderately premature. So it's already "a baby that causes less concern".

The mother suffered a Acute asthma attack at twelve weeks of pregnancy and, after a while in induced coma, went into brain death at nineteen weeks. This is the first baby born to a brain-dead mother at São João Hospital in Porto.

A similar case occurred in 2016 in the central hospital center of Lisbon. A child was born to a mother with brain death for fifteen weeks.