- Jan 13, 2009
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Was she aware of what was happening? I'm just wondering if that can be done without explicit consent.Full blown eclampsia is a very serious complication of pregnancy. If not reversed, it can be fatal to the mother, or result in kidney or liver failure, or permanent brain damage. The emedicine link has more details. As I said, there is medical therapy. IV magnesium can help, along with medications to control seizures, lower blood pressure, and remove excess fluid. I was just a student at the time, so I wasn't making decisions. But this girl was getting maximal medical therapy and wasn't responding. In that case, the only possible treatment is to end the pregnancy. As I recall, she had a C-section. Her condition was so critical that the team didn't want to wait for labor to be induced. There was just no other option. And she did improve. I remember her BP came down, her kidneys started working so that she was peeing out the excess fluid, and the seizures mostly stopped. Though her mental status was still very abnormal and she wasn't yet alert or coherent. I rotated off the OB service soon after, and I never got any followup. The baby went to the NICU immediately, and I don't know the outcome. But I doubt it lived. Survival of a 22 week preemie would have made the news. It's still very unlikely, but in the mid-70s, that would have been as close to a medical miracle as anything imaginable.
I've heard of 22 week survival, but don't they have severe disabilities even if they do survive?
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