Joined: 07 Jun 2005 Posts: 528 Location: , Lost in Oz.
Woman Kept Alive to Save Baby Posted: 06-16-05 18:08pm
Case a thorny ethical issue, but pregnant
woman's family says it's what she'd want
joanne laucius
the ottawa citizen
thursday, june 16, 2005
1 | 2 | next >>
susan torres, 26, collapsed on may 7 from
a stroke brought on by undiagnosed
melanoma. The virginia woman, seen here
with her two-year-old son, peter, suffered
serious brain damage and will not recover.
Susan torres is in a race to the death --
a race that will decide whether cancer
claims her life before she gives birth.
But ms. Torres will never know how the
race ends.
On may 7, the 26-year-old vaccine
researcher from arlington, virginia, 15
weeks pregnant with her second child,
collapsed from a stroke brought on by
undiagnosed melanoma.
She suffered serious brain damage and will
never regain consciousness, but the cancer
is spreading quickly.
Now ms. Torres' family is hoping she will
live long enough on life support to
deliver the baby -- her last act of love,
says her husband, jason torres.
Ms. Torres is now almost 20 weeks
pregnant. Her husband hopes she and the
baby can hold on to at least 25 weeks, or
even 27 weeks, which would give the baby a
better chance for survival and good
health.
The case is an unusual one, but it didn't
attract any attention until two weeks ago,
when mr. Torres' brother, justin, wrote
an opinion piece about the politics of
abortion for the dallas morning news.
In it, he outlined the story of his
sister-in-law's collapse, and noted how
the doctors and the family wondered --
just for a moment -- if they were doing
the right thing.
Only for a moment, jason torres reiterated
last night.
"of course there's another option. But
we're not going to take it," he said.
"you're not going to let your child go."
ms. Torres had complained of headaches
and nausea for three days before her
collapse at home. Doctors discovered she
had melanoma, which had metastasized in
her brain, triggering a massive stroke.
Although her family says she's now brain
dead, doctors say her body is still
regulating its heartbeat and blood
pressure. However, she needs a respirator
to breathe, is completely unresponsive and
will not recover.
But the question remains whether ms.
Torres could remain alive long enough to
save the baby.
The cancer is spreading, and it could
cross from the mother to the fetus via the
placenta. Although the fetus' heartbeat
is monitored several times a day, and
there is an ultrasound done every week,
ultimately there is no way of knowing,
said mr. Torres.
"it's the intersection of so many things,"
said mr. Torres. "you have cancer. You
have brain damage. And you have to wait
so long to get the baby to viability."
meanwhile, mr. Torres faces a crushing
debt because of his decision. His wife
has some medical insurance, but it doesn't
cover all of her costs. The first 12 days
of treatment, not including doctors' fees,
added up to almost $100,000 u.S., said mr.
Torres. If the baby is born, it remains
unclear whether expensive care in the
neonatal ward for two or three months will
be covered.
"you know something is really bad when the
bankruptcy costs are the least of your
worries," said justin torres. "no one has
talked about cutting us off yet."
susan and jason met as students at the
university of dallas. As a biology
student, susan would get up at 4 a.M. And
put on muddy khakis and field boots to
collect samples of an invasive plant she
was researching. When she moved to
virginia, she set her sights on malaria
vaccine research and eventually landed a
job at the national institutes for health
research.
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 1797 Location: Upper Midwest
Posted: 06-16-05 18:14pm
There has been a few cases like that,
where the woman's choice leads to almost
certian death and artificial life support
while awaiting birth. It has been seen
in other cancer patients, and in traffic
accident victims with bad head injuries.
Generally, the outcome is 50:50.
For most of them, the case is like this
one, where nobody knew till it was to
late, although there have been a few cases
where the woman did forego chemotherapy
and radiation to preserve the pregnancy.
Again, that is part of choice, of leaving
the decision to the woman, not to the
politicians or the physician.
|
trina1
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 Jun 2005 Posts: 528 Location: , Lost in Oz.
Re: Woman Kept Alive to Save Baby Posted: 06-16-05 18:18pm
trina1
wrote:
case a thorny ethical issue,
but pregnant woman's family says it's what
she'd want
joanne laucius
the ottawa citizen
thursday, june 16, 2005
1 | 2 | next >>
susan torres, 26, collapsed on may 7 from
a stroke brought on by undiagnosed
melanoma. The virginia woman, seen here
with her two-year-old son, peter, suffered
serious brain damage and will not recover.
Susan torres is in a race to the death --
a race that will decide whether cancer
claims her life before she gives birth.
But ms. Torres will never know how the
race ends.
On may 7, the 26-year-old vaccine
researcher from arlington, virginia, 15
weeks pregnant with her second child,
collapsed from a stroke brought on by
undiagnosed melanoma.
She suffered serious brain damage and will
never regain consciousness, but the cancer
is spreading quickly.
Now ms. Torres' family is hoping she
will live long enough on life support to
deliver the baby -- her last act of love,
says her husband, jason torres.
Ms. Torres is now almost 20 weeks
pregnant. Her husband hopes she and the
baby can hold on to at least 25 weeks, or
even 27 weeks, which would give the baby a
better chance for survival and good
health.
The case is an unusual one, but it didn't
attract any attention until two weeks ago,
when mr. Torres' brother, justin, wrote
an opinion piece about the politics of
abortion for the dallas morning news.
In it, he outlined the story of his
sister-in-law's collapse, and noted how
the doctors and the family wondered --
just for a moment -- if they were doing
the right thing.
Only for a moment, jason torres reiterated
last night.
"of course there's another option. But
we're not going to take it," he said.
"you're not going to let your child go."
ms. Torres had complained of headaches
and nausea for three days before her
collapse at home. Doctors discovered she
had melanoma, which had metastasized in
her brain, triggering a massive stroke.
Although her family says she's now brain
dead, doctors say her body is still
regulating its heartbeat and blood
pressure. However, she needs a
respirator to breathe, is completely
unresponsive and will not recover.
But the question remains whether ms.
Torres could remain alive long enough to
save the baby.
The cancer is spreading, and it could
cross from the mother to the fetus via the
placenta. Although the fetus' heartbeat
is monitored several times a day, and
there is an ultrasound done every week,
ultimately there is no way of knowing,
said mr. Torres.
"it's the intersection of so many things,"
said mr. Torres. "you have cancer.
You have brain damage. And you have to
wait so long to get the baby to
viability."
meanwhile, mr. Torres faces a crushing
debt because of his decision. His wife
has some medical insurance, but it doesn't
cover all of her costs. The first 12
days of treatment, not including doctors'
fees, added up to almost $100,000 u.S.,
said mr. Torres. If the baby is born,
it remains unclear whether expensive care
in the neonatal ward for two or three
months will be covered.
"you know something is really bad when the
bankruptcy costs are the least of your
worries," said justin torres. "no one
has talked about cutting us off yet."
susan and jason met as students at the
university of dallas. As a biology
student, susan would get up at 4 a.M.
And put on muddy khakis and field boots to
collect samples of an invasive plant she
was researching. When she moved to
virginia, she set her sights on malaria
vaccine research and eventually landed a
job at the national institutes for health
research.
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 1797 Location: Upper Midwest
Re: Woman Kept Alive to Save Baby Posted: 06-16-05 18:22pm
trina1
wrote:
what a courageous
family.
for following the woman's
wish and choice, absolutely. If only the
schindlers would have had the same courage
and decency regarding terri schiavo.
|
sandyallen
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Feb 2004 Posts: 4580
Posted: 06-16-05 19:51pm
Who wants to lay in bed for 10-15 yrs,
living on ifs and maybe's. I hope like
hell that the government does not get it's
hands on this one, maybe the fetus will
make it o.K. And maybe it will not, I
just hope that if it does make it that it
does not fill up w/toxins later on post
birth beings their appears to be some
uncertainty of the mothers medical
conditiion as this can happen as we all
know, just like it has happened before.
All we can do is try to be positive but
then again I would not want to grow up to
not know who my mother is as they are the
strength in the family, they make
christmas, an owie go away, they are sooo
much in your life.
Sincerely,
sandy
|
mom2trevor
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Posts: 694 Location: VA
Posted: 06-16-05 22:29pm
That story almost had me in tears. I feel
so bad for her family :(
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