Adriana Smith’s mother said she was taken off life support Tuesday.
ATLANTA — Adriana Smith, a metro Atlanta nurse who was declared brain dead in February while pregnant, has been taken off of life support, according to her mother.
April Newkirk, Smith’s mom, told 11Alive her daughter was removed from life support Tuesday. This comes days after her baby boy, Chance, was delivered by emergency Cesarean section. Her infant was born prematurely on Friday, June 13, around 4:41 a.m.
In an interview only on 11Alive Monday night, Newkirk said Chance weighs about 1 pound 13 ounces and is in the NICU.
“He’s expected to be OK,” she said. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”
She told 11Alive’s Jennifer Bellamy during the interview that it’s hard to process saying goodbye to her daughter. She said she wished she had more time.
“I’m her mother,” she said. “I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.”
Smith had been on life support for nearly four months after suffering a medical emergency linked to blood clots in her brain. Her case drew national attention as it raised difficult questions about Georgia’s abortion law, which bans most abortions after cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks into pregnancy.
Smith was declared brain dead on February 19, when she was eight weeks pregnant. Newkirk said doctors told the family they were required to keep Smith on life support under the state’s abortion law, House Bill 481, also known as the LIFE Act. The law does not explicitly address situations involving brain death, but experts and some lawmakers said it has created confusion in medical settings.
“These are not small contradictions. These are life and death contradictions,” said State Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes during a recent news conference.
In a May statement, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office clarified:
“There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” said spokesperson Kara Murray. “Removing life support is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.”
The Associated Press reported that Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”
Smith’s mother, Newkirk, has spoken publicly to 11Alive throughout her daughter’s hospitalization, saying the law stripped their family of the ability to make medical decisions.
“I think all women should have a choice about their body. And I think I want people to know that,” she said.
Smith, a registered nurse, loved her job, Newkirk said.
“The same field that she worked in is the same people that failed her,” Newkirk said.
She previously said her daughter went to Northside Hospital in early February for what she described as a severe headache. She said Smith was sent home. Within hours, according to Newkirk, her daughter was unresponsive. Her family later learned Smith had suffered blood clots in her brain. Newkirk said doctors then declared her daughter brain dead.
Doctors were aiming to deliver the baby at 32 weeks, but Newkirk said Smith had to have an emergency C-section Friday.
In addition to her newborn, Smith also has a 7-year-old son.
“Life has its ups and downs, but this hit us really, really hard. And we would just like for everyone to to continue to pray for us and just to give us our privacy at this time,” Newkirk said.
