Brain death in early pregnancy: A legal and ethical challenge coming to your intensive care unit?

Increasingly, reports are emerging of maternal physiological support after brain death in pregnant women declared brain dead long before the gestational age of foetal viability. While these 'miracle babies' often receive significant media attention - such as the recent case of Catarina Sequeira - it is difficult to estimate the probability of a live birth in such circumstances given a clear publication bias in favour of reporting good outcomes. In a number of highly publicised cases, continuation of maternal physiological support after brain death has been attempted against the express wishes of the patient's family in jurisdictions where a foetal right to life is given weight in law.