Maternal brain death.

Pregnancy is a biological process that usually takes forty weeks. The more advanced pregnancy is in terms of gestational age, the higher the chances that the fetus would survive in case of a premature and unnatural delivery. Hence, when a pregnant woman is struck by brain death, the fetus’ chances of survival are seriously and immediately threatened. Until recently, there were two choices in such a situation: letting the mother (and the fetus) naturally die without further intervention or delivering the fetus through a cesarean section when the death of the fetus was a tragic but likely result. Recent advances in medical technology, however, have provided physicians with an ability to control over the time and manner of death in ways that were never previously considered by their patients. A new option has thus become available: maintaining the brain-dead pregnant woman on “life support” for the successful delivery of the fetus for periods as long as 63, 70, 100, and even 107 days.