When Death Is Not the End: Continuing Somatic Care during PostmortemPregnancy

摘要

Brain death during the second trimester of pregnancy creates a unique situation in whichthe mother is deceased, but life of the developing fetus still depends on somaticfunctions in the mother’s body. In this article, I show that when a pregnant woman becomesbrain dead during the second trimester, it is morally licit, though not morallyobligatory, to continue somatic support while the fetus develops. The interventions on themother’s body are justified for the life of the fetus, especially in light of the uniquemother–child dyad and the responsibilities the mother has for her child. However, thistherapy is not frequently employed, and its success is unpredictable. In many cases, theexpense and uncertain nature of the therapy may make it disproportionate. In such cases,somatic support of the mother’s body may be discontinued.