Doctors deliver healthy baby 117 days after mother’s brain-death in world first

‘This has really been an extraordinary case,’ says doctor

Czech doctors have delivered a healthy baby girl 117 days after her mother was declared brain dead.

The baby was born by Caesarean section weighing 2.13kg (4.7lb) and measuring 42cm (16.5in) on 15 August, setting a new world record in the process, Brno’s University Hospital has said.

It said the 117 days she had been kept alive in the womb were believed to be a record for the longest artificially-sustained pregnancy in a brain-dead mother.

The mother had suffered a stroke in April and was declared brain dead shortly after reaching the hospital.

Doctors immediately began battling to save her child.

They put the 27-year-old woman on artificial life support to keep the pregnancy going, and regularly moved her legs to stimulate walking to help the child’s growth.

The baby was delivered in the 34th week of gestation, with the husband and other family members present.

Medical staff then disconnected the mother’s life support systems and allowed her to die.

“This has really been an extraordinary case when the whole family stood together ... without their support and their interest it would never have finished this way,” said Pavel Ventruba, head of gynaecology and obstetrics at the hospital.