Mother Who Had To Choose Between Saving Herself And Her Baby Passes Away At 33

Everybody weighs risks and consequences differently.... My weighing system seems to go in the same direction as yours. Wishing no "your mum died for you"- effect to the child.

Agreed. The child won’t have a mother. Her family has lost her. Her husband is now a single parent. This feels like another story where the life of an unborn child is valued above the life of a woman.

I am of your opinion. If the baby would have been smaller, I would have saved my own life. But she was in week 32 when she stopped the treatment, because it could endanger them both. I think I would have done the same in this situation. I would have encouraged a c section to get the baby out as soon as possible, so I could resume treatment though. Which we don‘t know if she did that. Although it sounds like she could have taken more aggressive meds in the first place. So, I would have stopped the pregnancy in early stage and done a real chemo treatment. For background: I‘ve lost my first born in week 38 and have now 2 children. I don‘t know what I would have decided while pregnant, what with hormones raging, but this is my opinion now.

I'm gonna get knocked for this but now here in the USA, in many states, women won't even get a choice anymore. Continuing chemotherapy could be considered an abortion in many states now. The way that law in Arizona is worded, a woman in this case would be forced to die. At least this woman had a choice.

Agreed. The featus wasn't even alive & shouldn't be considered more important than the person who actually is aliv.e

Yeah same like I would not do this I guarantee that the kid isn't doing well being raised by a single parent. This isn't heartwarming, it's kinda studpid.

I think the whole issue is a little fake. The baby was 32 weeks; that's already post-viability. My guess is the real story is the Mom RISKED her own health safety for the baby, but did not believe it was likely to result in her own death and that even now we probably don't know that but for the delay, the mother would have survived. OTOH, at 32 weeks, it's impossible to characterize the baby as anything but a living, feeling, responsive human being; I can easily see where the Mom couldn't see it as anything other than killing her baby so she had a marginally better chance of survival.

That was my thoughts too.

Yep. Let’s stop romanticizing women dying, period.

32 weeks. They feel pain, they are viable.

Wow. This poor woman fought cancer, chose to make sure her child would have a life, even when it meant she most certainly wouldn't, and here you are judging her character. You don't know s**t about this woman, but here you are saying she has some martyr complex. No matter what this woman chose to do, I support her ability and right to make her own choice. Women get judged no matter what choices they make. Damn.

32 weeks. That is nearly full term. They can feel pain. He should have been delivered right then.

This is ridiculous. Women get to make their own choices. That's what pro-choice means.

I can't believe comments like this get so many upvotes. It was HER CHOICE, no one else's! I live in a country where women do NOT have as many choices, and I applaud any woman who is able and willing to make the choices that feel right for her.

He should have forcefully administered chemo?

I do wonder about whether labor could have been induced. 32 weeks isn't even all that premature. This brings up a point that I think OP elides: This isn't about suicide to save someone else; this is about weighing risks. My guess is that they thought that medically induced birth carried its own risks, and didn't presume that an 8-week delay would be fatal.

Ah yes, the old tie people down and inject toxins into them approach. It's about time we had some good old time medicine around here. /s

To be honest, this was 30 years ago. I had NO input on the couple or their decision. Stop trying to be "holier than thou".

Now you are being ableist

This is cowardly, not brave.