Brain dead woman delivers a baby and then wakes up

A pregnant Filipina who was declared clinically (brain) dead just before delivery at a hospital in Kuwait came back to life moments after her boy was born. The baby boy weighed 6.8 lbs. and mom and baby are doing fine.

“This is a scientific miracle at all levels,” doctors at Farwaniya Hospital in the capital Kuwait City said.

“A 36-year-old Filipina who was nine months pregnant was hospitalised at 3:30 AM on Friday in a critical condition with extremely high blood pressure,” Dr Humoud Al Zobi, the hospital manager, said. “The woman suffered a cardiac arrest while being examined in the casualty department after she coughed and spat blood. Her heart then stopped beating and she stopped breathing,” he said.

She was declared clinically dead and was immediately rushed to the operation theatre to save the baby. 

Hospital director Dr. Humoud Al-Zo’abi told KUNA Saturday that the woman “entered in clinical (brain) death with neither heartbeat nor breathing.”

Clinically dead means brain dead; brain death is a theory and not a scientific reality. This is the term used to pronounce dead under the Uniform Determination of Death Act.

The Caesarean operation was performed without anaesthesia as the mother was considered dead.

The Doctors

Dr Mohammad Hassan, who supervised the operation, said.

“This is a scientific miracle at all levels. As soon as the woman was checked and declared clinically dead, the maternity division of the hospital was put on alert for a Caesarean. The woman and her baby are now in stable condition,” he said.