Adriana Smith, the previously pregnant and brain-dead Atlanta nurse who was kept alive by medical officials until she delivered her baby, was laid to rest on Saturday, June 28.
Per FOX 5 Atlanta, Smith’s funeral ceremony took place at the Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia. Smith being finally laid to rest comes after her family registered their displeasure over Georgia medical officials deciding to put her on life support for months – though she was brain-dead, Face2Face Africa previously reported.
Smith was being kept alive under Georgia’s heartbeat law which bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy. According to 11Alive, the law includes “limited exceptions for rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger. But in Adriana’s case, the law created a legal gray area.”
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On June 13, Smith delivered by emergency Cesarean section, and she was ultimately taken off life support on June 17. Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive that the baby boy, named Chance, was born prematurely, weighing about 1 pound 13 ounces and was in NICU.
“He’s expected to be OK,” Newkirk said at the time. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”
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Smith, a 31-year-old registered nurse at Emory University Hospital, experienced severe headaches when she was almost nine weeks pregnant in early February, so she went to Northside Hospital for treatment, her mother told 11Alive.
At Northside, she was given medication and released without any tests or CT scan being done on her, her mother said. The morning after her release from Northside, her boyfriend found her gasping for air in her sleep and she was immediately taken to Emory Decatur before being transferred to Emory University Hospital. After a CT scan, doctors found multiple blood clots in Smith’s brain.
At that point, she had been declared brain dead. Recently in May, Smith was moved to Emory Midtown for better obstetric care. There, doctors planned to keep her alive until her pregnancy was 32 weeks old and the baby could survive outside the womb. Smith was 21 weeks pregnant at the time, her family said.
The platform reported that because Smith was brain dead and no longer at risk herself, her doctors were expected to maintain life support based on the aforementioned law.
Smith’s family was troubled that everything happening was without their consent. “I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision,” Newkirk said. “And if not, then their partner or their parents.”
