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Pregnancy in a Dead Woman and the Limits of Her Relatives Authority

Carlo V Bellieni

Literature reports cases of brain-dead women’s physical activities kept “alive”, because of an ongoing pregnancy. Three points should be considered when dealing with this issue. First: the possibility to continue the pregnancy in the dead body until a safe gestational age to guarantee a safe birth and survival was considered realistic by the hospital team. Second: the interruption of the physiological activities of the woman would provoke the death of the fetus: the husband might ask to withdraw them, but this would contrast with the fetus’ life and the woman’s whishes, while the prosecution of the pregnancy is not against the woman’s best interest, because she was unfortunately dead. Thus, a decision to prosecute the pregnancy in a brain-dead body, taken by the hospital authorities, is to be endorsed.