The ordeal of a Brazilian family has the country immersed in a heated debate as a brain-dead 21-year-old mother is being kept alive by machines so that her unborn 6-month-old child has a chance to survive.

“This is disgusting,” a local netizen said. “She’s being forced to have her body violated just so that she can give birth to someone who will never remember her.”

Joyce Sousa Araújo, collapsed after suffering “very strong headaches,” being hospitalized at a Rondonópolis hospital for surgery. Doctors were able to detect an aneurysm but it was already too late, as her brain had swollen to the point she couldn’t be saved.

“I’m sure that, if the mother was alive, this is exactly what she would’ve wanted!” another replied.

A brain-dead 21-year-old mother is being kept alive by machines to give her unborn 6-month-old child a chance to survive

Image credits: g1

Her husband, 23-year-old João Matheus Silva, recounted the suddenness of the tragedy, which left their two daughters, aged 3 and 7, without a mother and with their brother’s life at risk. 

“She started feeling very strong headaches after getting pregnant, but nothing that indicated an aneurysm. We never imagined this would happen,” he said, remembering how his wife’s condition suddenly worsened on December 20 while at their home in Jaciara.

Image credits: sousa_joy9890

As her brain expanded, doctors desperately tried to remove part of her skull to alleviate the swelling, but their efforts failed. Joyce was declared brain dead a few days later.

Despite the mother’s condition, doctors decided to continue artificial life support due to her advanced pregnancy.

The hospital has been monitoring both Joyce and her unborn child closely, aiming to deliver the baby boy as soon as it reaches 7 months of gestational age.

Experts have long debated the ethical considerations of cases such as Joyce’s, as well as the legal ramifications of the procedure

Image credits: sousa_joy9890

The story of Joyce has parallels to other cases around the world where pregnant women declared brain dead have been kept alive to support their unborn children. 

A notable example is the case of Catarina Sequeira, a Portuguese woman who was maintained on life support until her baby could be delivered at 31 weeks.

Her case was thoroughly examined by a 2020 University of Cambridge study which delved into the complex legal and ethical implications of keeping a mother alive to save an unborn child’s life.

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For Alex Warren, one of the paper’s authors, one that one of the most contentious aspects of delicate situations like this is hospitals acting against the express wishes of the mother’s family.

Image credits: matheus__.borges

“In a number of highly publicised cases, continuation of maternal physiological support after brain death has been attempted against the express wishes of the patient’s family,” he wrote.

The study also put forward a concerning figure, citing a German study of 30 cases of brain-dead mothers, of which only 63% were able to successfully deliver their babies. 

Brazil’s legal system forbids abortions beyond the third month, which means doctors must do all they can to keep Joyce’s baby alive

Image credits: viralagora

Aside from the complex ethical considerations of surrounding the subject matter, legal concerns also need to be taken into account.

Brazil is a signatory of the American Human Rights Convention, which grants the right to life to human embryos, including intrauterine ones. In 2016, the Supreme Court in Brazil ruled that abortion was not considered a crime in the first three months of pregnancy.

Image credits: estreitonline

Beyond that specific timeframe, the procedure is only allowed if the mother was raped, to save the mother’s life, and in the case of an anencephalic fetus. 

Joyce’s baby being a 6-month-old, means that doctors are under the obligation to preserve its life to the best of their ability. The mother’s family have also expressed willingness to receive the baby.

Image credits: sousa_joy9890

 

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“The worst part is knowing that the children will grow up without a mother,” the father explained.

The family is now looking for a way to raise money to send Joyce’s body to the state of Tocantins, in the center of Brazil, after the baby is born, with the father putting up a video on Instagram explaining their situation.

“Any strong woman would do this,” one reader wrote, believing Joyce would’ve been happy with the decision the doctors made

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