Fake pro life story? Brain dead pregnant Canadian woman

[FJismyheadship]

lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-man-keeps-brain-dead-pregnant-wife-on-life-support-to-give-baby-ch

After the woman in Texas, and Jahi makes me think this isn't real.

According to a commenter, pro choicers are pro death,

[Coconut Flan]

The story is also in mainline news: http://globalnews.ca/news/1125347/pregn ... n-be-born/ among others.

[britannia24]

Definitely a real story - she's from my home town and my sibling was a classmate of hers. Very sad situation - but the local support rallying around the family is wonderful!

[bucherwurm]

Assuming this story is real, there are some major differences between this woman and the Texas woman. The article says the Canadian girl was still breathing when she was found, which means the baby was never deprived of oxygen. The baby was already over 20 weeks, where the Texas baby was only 14 weeks. Since this woman is Canadian, her family doesn't have to pay out of pocket for the medical care for her or the baby once it's born. This is also something the husband/dad wants.

Something I don't agree with is the $34,000 worth of fundraising that has gone on. I get this is a unique situation, but the man doesn't have to pay for medical care, and there are people in far worse off situations that make it work. I don't see why this guy needs $34,000, especially considering the article is saying how much support he has and things.

[FJismyheadship]

Oh okay. It showed up on Facebook under that website and I should have checked first, but I didn't think of it.

[slh12280]

Can I just say that I loved the comment about taking people off life support being the same as euthanasia. There is a lot of crazy on there.

[slh12280]

One person wants the Texas woman's family charged with two counts of murder??? What is wrong with these people??? :pink-shock:

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think this is way different from the other case, and I agree with their decision.

She was 22 weeks, so didn't have long to wait until the baby would be viable, and the baby is healthy because she never stopped breathing, compared to the other one who would be severely disabled from the brain damage and was way younger and less developed. Also in this one the father is supportive of this, but before the father was not okay with it and wanted his wife to be let go and their baby not to suffer anymore.

[browngrl]

This is really an entirely different story than the Texas case.

1. The family wants to keep the woman on life support till the baby is born and there is no indication that this is not what the woman would have wanted as well.

2. From a medical stand point - keeping her on life support is a reasonable course of action - as there is a good chance the baby will be fine

3. There is no law determining the course of action - the course of action was decided between the family and the doctors

[Patsy]

I don't really see how it's a "pro life" story. I think most people would want to be kept alive to sustain a healthy, wanted pregnancy, they'd just be horrified if their wishes were otherwise and were overridden. At least, I know that's how I feel about it, and I'm prochoice...

[Arete]

I'm confused with this story. Is the Canadian mother brain dead? Because if she is, she is not being "kept alive". She is dead and her corpse is being maintained to get the baby to viability.

Agree that there are big differences in the particulars of the two cases, but if she is brain dead she dead, not being kept alive.

[scc12]

also,the fetus in tx was deformed and deprived of oxygen.the gender couldn't be determined as the legs were deformed,and also there was hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and heart problems.

[daisyjane1234]

I don't have a problem with the fundraising. Yes, medical costs are paid here in Canada. However, this man will likely need to take a significant amount of time away from work to provide care to a newborn infant. Had his wife not died, she likely would have taken mat leave while he remained working. Obviously this won't happen and expenses will continue. If financially supporting this man for a while eases a brutal situation then I think it is a great idea.

You also need to remember that while medical expenses are paid here in Canada, a number of peripheral expenses are not. My son spent considerable time in the the NICU of a Children's hospital in another city and has been hospitalized fairly often over the years at this same hospital. Parking, commuting, meals, hotel stays for family, etc. add up during a protracted hospital stay. While his wife is on life support and the baby is hopefully growing I imagine this man will likely be off work and spending time at the hospital.

I doubt very much that this is a cash grab, but rather a sincere way to help a man who has been caught in a terrible nightmare. My prayers go to him and his family.

[Mama Mia]

I don't have a problem with the fundraising. Yes, medical costs are paid here in Canada. However, this man will likely need to take a significant amount of time away from work to provide care to a newborn infant. Had his wife not died, she likely would have taken mat leave while he remained working. Obviously this won't happen and expenses will continue. If financially supporting this man for a while eases a brutal situation then I think it is a great idea.

You also need to remember that while medical expenses are paid here in Canada, a number of peripheral expenses are not. My son spent considerable time in the the NICU of a Children's hospital in another city and has been hospitalized fairly often over the years at this same hospital. Parking, commuting, meals, hotel stays for family, etc. add up during a protracted hospital stay. While his wife is on life support and the baby is hopefully growing I imagine this man will likely be off work and spending time at the hospital.

I doubt very much that this is a cash grab, but rather a sincere way to help a man who has been caught in a terrible nightmare. My prayers go to him and his family.

So true. I've worked with a shocking number of families who were homeless due to a serious medical situation with a parent or child. Often they had Medicaid to cover the actual hospital costs, but that didn't help them with all the other costs you mentioned or being unable to keep their job.

[britannia24]

I think the fundraising was for the equivalent of the wages of the wife for one year...he`s been off work for over a month, and likely will for several months after baby Iver is born to take care of him. The fund is almost at $115,000 - so over 3x the original goal and still going strong! Personally I think it`s pretty amazing how much the community and now outside the community is rallying around the family!

[2xx1xy1JD]

I'm confused with this story. Is the Canadian mother brain dead? Because if she is, she is not being "kept alive". She is dead and her corpse is being maintained to get the baby to viability.

Agree that there are big differences in the particulars of the two cases, but if she is brain dead she dead, not being kept alive.

She's brain-dead. The article talks about how the father will be burying his wife as soon as his son is born. So sad.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/02 ... n_son.html

Everyone involved agrees that this is not like the Texas case. The family wants this. They believe that she would have wanted to do this.

He'll need the support because he'll be a single father, which is not something he planned. Taking the time off work to care for his new son will mean going without his regular income and just getting a maximum of $400/week Employment Insurance benefits.

[Beammeup]

I don't have a problem with the fundraising. He will eventually have funeral costs, and having had a baby in the NICU, I know there are significant costs associated with having a loved one in the hospital separate from the medical costs. Meals out, parking, gas, etc all these add up fast and are because of the hospital stay, and not a usual expense.

[pook]

Just gonna weigh in here lightly for the first time (Hello from Canada) to say that he should have parental leave benefits at 55% of his income at least for 6 months. His employer may even top this up. I have no issue with the donations. Even with Universal Healthcare and at least fair maternity/paternity leave bens that we have in this country children are expensive! He will eventually have the expense of daycare which by comparison here in Toronto runs at $1600 per month for a one year old. He is now the sole breadwinner don't forget, which obviously was not in the original plan. I will probably donate. Off topic I wonder if he may be able to somehow get breastmilk for the little one either through a bank (I am not current on this) or even through community efforts, which has happened before in prior cases of mothers of newborns who have died.

[PennySycamore]

Just gonna weigh in here lightly for the first time (Hello from Canada) to say that he should have parental leave benefits at 55% of his income at least for 6 months. His employer may even top this up. I have no issue with the donations. Even with Universal Healthcare and at least fair maternity/paternity leave bens that we have in this country children are expensive! He will eventually have the expense of daycare which by comparison here in Toronto runs at $1600 per month for a one year old. He is now the sole breadwinner don't forget, which obviously was not in the original plan. I will probably donate. Off topic I wonder if he may be able to somehow get breastmilk for the little one either through a bank (I am not current on this) or even through community efforts, which has happened before in prior cases of mothers of newborns who have died.

I would hope he would be able to get donated milk, preferably through a milk bank but informal milk sharing is a possibility.

This is a bit OT, but back in the late 70s, LLLI held one of their International Conferences in Toronto. There was a man there with a baby, but you never saw his wife. At the end of the Conference, he stood up and said that his wife had joined LLLC while she was pregnant and was excited for the opportunity to attend the Conference with her baby and husband. His wife had died either during childbirth or shortly thereafter. He decided to go to the Conference anyway for the parenting support. He said he'd not had one single negative comment made about him bottle-feeding his baby. Now this may be an LLL urban legend, but I think that's pretty amazing if it's true.

[linnea27]

Just saw on my fb newsfeed (the family is a friend of a friend) that the baby was born on Saturday and the mom was taken off the machines that same day.

eta: sorry, mom was taken off on Sunday, not Saturday

[Coconut Flan]

So sad. I'm glad it's over though. Any word on how the baby is doing?

[linnea27]

So sad. I'm glad it's over though. Any word on how the baby is doing?

well, apparently, although I am sure there are concerns related to his prematurity. There is a pic of his dad going the kangaroo hold with him.

[Arete]

I'm glad he has his baby, but so tragic about the mom.

[Stephanie66]

I am glad they didn't have the baby's birthday and the mom's date of death on the same day. It's a little thing, but probably huge to the family.