Brain-Dead Woman Kept Alive for Fetus

A judge today ordered a brain-dead, pregnant woman kept on life support so that her fetus might have a chance of life, rejecting the request of the woman’s husband--who is not the father--that she be allowed to die.

Attorneys for University Hospital had asked Superior Court Judge William M. Fleming Jr. to decide whether it should comply with the husband’s request to disconnect life support machines from 25-year-old Donna Piazzi, or with a request from the unborn child’s father to keep Piazzi alive.

Robert Piazzi has not disputed the claim of David Hadden that he is the father, according to the hospital’s petition.

Donna Piazzi has been hospitalized since June 27 after suffering an apparent drug overdose.

Forty-five minutes into a hearing on the hospital’s petition, Fleming said he would order the life supports continued.

Privacy Rights at Issue

Ted Clarkson, an attorney for the hospital, told the judge that the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, permitting abortion in the first six months of pregnancy, preserves a mother’s right of privacy.

But “tragically, Mrs. Piazzi is dead,” Clarkson said. “She has no more right of privacy . . . and Roe says the state has an interest in the protection of human life.”

Clarkson and attorney Sam Nicholson, who was appointed by the court to represent the fetus, argued that state law makes it a crime to kill a fetus that has been recognized as quick, or moving. Doctors testified that Piazzi’s fetus has begun moving.

Dr. Ibrahim Mashini said Mrs. Piazzi’s 21-week-old fetus would need at least four more weeks to be capable of surviving outside the womb.