RICHMOND, Va., August 4, 2005
Brain-Dead Woman Gives Birth, Dies
Woman Removed From Life Support After Three Months
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Play CBS Video Video Reactions To Brain-Dead Birth CBS News RAW: Susan Torres' brother-in-law spoke after the brain-damaged woman gave birth and later died. Doctors said the baby is doing well.
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Video Brain Dead Woman Gives Birth A brain dead woman has given birth at a Virginia hospital. Twenty-six-year-old Susan Torres was four months pregnant when cancer left her brain dead, Melissa McDermott reports.
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Video Miracle Baby Born Justin Torres, brother-in-law of Susan Torres who gave birth while on life support, joins The Early Show with Dr. Donna Tilden-Archer to talk about the birth of this miracle baby.
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Susan Torres is shown this undated photo made available by her family. (AP (file))
"This is obviously a bittersweet time for our family," Justin Torres, Susan Torres' brother-in-law, said in the statement.
Susan Torres, whose plight has attracted support from around the world, gave birth to a daughter Tuesday at 8:18 a.m. by Caesarean section at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Doctors turned off Torres' life support early Tuesday after she received the final sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church.
The delivery went smoothly and the baby "is doing well," her brother-in-law, Justin Torres, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Susan Anne Catherine Torres weighs 1 pound, 13 ounces and is 13 1/2 inches long, he said.
Torres, a former researcher at the National Institutes of Health, lost consciousness from a stroke May 7 after aggressive melanoma spread to her brain. Her husband, Jason Torres, said doctors told him his wife's brain functions had stopped.
The infant is being monitored in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, which is about 100 miles north of Richmond.
Jason Torres quit his job to be by his wife's side, spending each night sleeping in a reclining chair next to her bed. Last month, the fetus passed the 24th week of development — the earliest point at which doctors felt the baby would have a reasonable chance to survive, the brother-in-law said.
When she had the stroke, Susan Torres was 15 weeks pregnant with the couple's second child. Jason Torres asked doctors to keep his wife alive through artificial means so the baby had a chance to develop, the Times Dispatch reports. The couple also have 2-year-old son, Peter.
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