A 31-year-old woman named Adriana Smith welcomed her baby early Friday (June 13) morning. However, she likely won’t get the chance to hold her mini-me. Smith is brain-dead and has been on life support since February. Staff from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, assisted in the child’s delivery. Her mother, April Newkirk, confirmed the update to WXIA-TV.
Newkirk said her grandchild was born prematurely by an emergency cesarean section. Adriana was about six months into her pregnancy. The baby, named Chance, weighs about 1 pound and 13 ounces and is in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“He’s expected to be okay,” Newkirk told the TV station WXIA-TV. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him.”
Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than four months ago. She visited Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and declared her brain-dead on February 19. At the time, she was eight weeks pregnant.
The Associated Press called and emailed Emory on Tuesday for comment. It is unclear why the Atlanta hospital decided to deliver the baby.
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, said Emory University Hospital will take her off life support on Tuesday (June 17). “It’s kind of hard, you know,” April reportedly said in tears. “It’s hard to process,” she added, wishing her daughter had more time, per 11Alive. Adriana’s loved ones and advocacy groups came together this past weekend to celebrate her 31st birthday, which will mark her last one. Newkirk did not speak at the event.
“I’m her mother…I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me,” Newkirk stated.
With her daughter’s condition and planned death, April will be fully embracing the caregiver role for her grandchildren. She said she’s trying to hold it together for them. Adriana also had a 7-year-old son, and worked as a nurse at Emory. If I could say one more thing to her, I guess I would tell her that I love her and that she was a great daughter,” Newkirk said.
Smith’s family said Emory University Hospital doctors told them they were not allowed to remove the devices keeping her breathing. That’s because Georgia law (House Bill 481) bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected, which is generally around six weeks into pregnancy. Again, Smith was eight weeks pregnant when her health took a turn.
Georgia Republican Attorney General Chris Carr spoke on the controversial method in May. In his statement, Carr said the LIFE Act did not require medical professionals to keep a woman declared brain dead on life support. “Removing life support is not an action ‘with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy,'” Carr said.
Associated Press Staff contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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