The 16-year-old, who had been undergoing chemotherapy, died from complications of the disease, said Dr. Antonio Cabrera, the legal representative for the hospital.
Her case stirred debate in her country, as her life was potentially at risk because of anti-abortion laws in the Dominican Republic.
Doctors were hesitant to give her chemotherapy because such treatment could terminate the pregnancy -- a violation of the Dominican Constitution, which bans abortion. Some 20 days after she was admitted to the hospital, she finally began receiving treatment.
The patient, whose identity has not been released because she's a minor and because of the hospital's privacy policy, was 13 weeks pregnant.
The teen's body did not respond to the chemotherapy, and her condition worsened overnight, Cabrera said.
Her body also rejected a blood transfusion on Thursday, he said.
The patient then suffered a miscarriage early Friday, followed by cardiac arrest, he said. Doctors were unable to revive her.
Representatives from the Dominican Ministry of Health, the Dominican Medical College, the hospital and the girl's family had talked for several days before deciding to go forward with the chemotherapy.
The case sparked renewed debate over abortion in the Dominican Republic, with some lawmakers calling on officials to reconsider the abortion ban.
At the time that treatment started, Rosa Hernandez, the girl's mother, said she had been trying to convince doctors and the Dominican government to make an exception so that her daughter's life could be saved.
"My daughter's life is first. I know that (abortion) is a sin and that it goes against the law ... but my daughter's health is first," Hernandez said.
According to Article 37 of the Dominican Constitution, "the right to life is inviolable from the moment of conception and until death." Dominican courts have interpreted this as a strict mandate against abortion. Article 37, passed in 2009, also abolished the death penalty.
CNN
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.” ~ George Washington
Oh wait.
What a horrible situation. I wish I could tell the mother - its not a sin to want your daughter to live. Your daughter's life should have come first. After all, if she had lived, she could have, if she wished, gone on to have children and be a mother and you a grandmother.
And I would not say this to her in her time of grief, but fuck your Church for imposing its will on your homeland. You need to kick its evil influence out and find a better way. A way that honors living women, not just the fetus.
This is what anti-abortion laws eventually become. Latin American women in particular suffer because of the Catholic Church's massive influence over social policy. I really hope I can see something change in my lifetime, but idk.
Edited at 2012-08-18 06:38 pm (UTC)
ETA-not-feeding-the-troll: ^ There's nothing ~challenging~ about prioritizing a person's right to own their own body and have that body treated accordingly.
Edited at 2012-08-18 07:14 pm (UTC)
She obviously wanted the treatment, her mother wanted her to have the treatment, the treatment is perfectly legal, To deny a living person life-saving treatment is morally reprehensible. There is nothing challenging about this.
Why does pro-life only seem to apply to fetuses? I can't with this logic.
Besides, did it not occur to them, that if the mother died from lack of treatment, that the baby would die too?
All this pro-life bullshit should be called for what it actually is... anti-choice.
And this: "Representatives from the Dominican Ministry of Health, the Dominican Medical College, the hospital and the girl's family had talked for several days before deciding to go forward with the chemotherapy."
Shouldn't the decision on treatment lie solely with the girl and her family? As it is, them standing around and talking about it 'for several days' was probably the delay that contributed to her death. Congratulations, dumbasses. I hope you're proud of yourselves.
R.I.P. that poor girl.
And therein lies the tragic irony.
Per Mayo Clinic
(emphasis mine)
Edited at 2012-08-20 05:13 pm (UTC)
According to one study I found that looked at 216 pregnant women in their first-trimester with acute leukemia who received chemotherapy, only 11% of the pregnancies resulted in miscarriage, and 5% resulted in stillbirth.
Another study looking at 14 first-trimester women with acute leukemia resulted in one miscarriage and no congenital malformations.
Another study looking at 15 first-trimester women with acute leukemia resulted in 3 abortions (IDK if these were elective abortions or miscarriages), 1 stillborn, and 1 child with congenital malformation.
Yeah...given that the overall rate of congenital malformations for ALL lives births is 3% and the overall rate of miscarriage for all pregnancies is 15-20% ANYWAY, it doesn't really look like the chemotherapy for acute leukemia put's the fetus's life at risk ANYWAY.
WTF. this is SUCH BULLSHIT.
Fuck them all.