A 30-year-old woman from Dubai has approached a city-based doctor for help as her 24-week old foetus is highly underweight.
Dr Nikhil Datar, gynaecologist from Goregaon who evaluated the woman, said the foetus has a condition called thrombophilia, because of which the oxygen supply to its brain is low.
“The baby weighs 300 grams. At 24 weeks, the weight of the foetus should be at least 600 grams,” said Dr Datar.
He added that the condition could have been treated had
the woman sought help before the seventh week of her pregnancy.
“Although we have found the cause it is too late to treat. All possible medications have been tried but in vain. The chance of survival at this stage anywhere is the world is zero,” Dr Datar said in a Facebook post.
Knowing that the condition cannot be treated now, the woman now wants to terminate the pregnancy as she will soon have a miscarriage.
However, she cannot terminate her pregnancy as she has crossed the 20-week abortion deadline.
“Even if she approaches the Supreme Court to abort, the average turnover time of the judicial process in such cases is 4 to 5 weeks, by which she would have already suffered a miscarriage,” Dr Datar told HT.
{{/usCountry}}“Even if she approaches the Supreme Court to abort, the average turnover time of the judicial process in such cases is 4 to 5 weeks, by which she would have already suffered a miscarriage,” Dr Datar told HT.
{{/usCountry}}This case yet again highlights the trauma women go through who want to abort her foetus but unable to do so owing to the 20-week legal abortion deadline, said doctors who are vehemently pushing for the abortion limit to be pushed to 24 weeks.
“It is demeaning to just wait till your baby dies in the womb and have no other option,” said a gynaecologist who did not wish to be named.
Earlier in the month, the Supreme Court allowed a 13-year-old rape survivor from Mumbai to terminate her 32-week pregnancy on medical grounds.
The order came after a panel of doctors at the hospital said the pregnancy posed a risk to girl’s life.
The 13-year-old delivered a boy after a Caesarean-section surgery at Sir JJ Hospital, Byculla.
The baby died after three days, following respiratory complications.
The baby, which weighed 1.8kg and had smaller organs, was on ventilator for 48 hours.
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