Hospital Wins Order to Keep Woman Alive

A hospital, caught in a dispute between the husband of a brain-dead woman and the father of her 21-week-old fetus, won a court order Friday to keep the woman alive so the fetus has a chance of survival.

Superior Court Judge William M. Fleming Jr. granted University Hospital’s request for an order to continue life support for Donna Piazzi, 25, of Augusta, hospitalized since an apparent drug overdose June 27.

Her husband, Robert Piazzi, asked hospital officials July 16 to turn off her life-support systems. But David Hadden, who claims to be the father of the fetus, asked them to keep the woman alive.

Doctors have determined that Piazzi’s brain has stopped functioning, leaving her clinically dead. She is being kept alive by a respirator and intravenous feeding, court papers show.

Fetus Not Viable

The state, represented by Georgia Assistant Atty. Gen. David Will, asked Fleming to dismiss the case, saying that the courts have no jurisdiction until the fetus is sufficiently developed to survive outside the womb. Doctors testified that Piazzi’s fetus has not reached that point. She is 17 weeks short of full-term pregnancy and 4 weeks short of the earliest point at which doctors consider a fetus viable.

In Georgia, paternity is not determined until the fetus is viable, Will said. Custody is not determined until after birth.

Fleming rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case and granted the hospital’s request for an order to maintain life support.

Hospital officials issued a statement saying that they were pleased with the ruling but said further comment, including details of how or when Piazzi might give birth, would violate a patient’s right to privacy.