Boy born in Poland to mother on life support goes home

Authorities in Poland say a baby boy has gone home safe and well after his brain-dead mother was kept alive on life support so he could be born.

Doctors at Wroclaw University kept the mother alive for 55 days while they waited for the boy to grow.

The 41-year-old mother was taken to hospital 17 weeks into the pregnancy with an incurable brain tumour. Her life support has been switched off.


Doctors delivered the baby when they judged the boy's life was in danger.

He was born in January in the 26th week of the pregnancy, weighing just 1kg (2.2lbs), said Barbara Krolak-Olejnik, head of the neonatal unit at the hospital.

"It's rare to successfully maintain a pregnancy for so long, that it is at such an early stage, at 17 or 18 weeks," Ms Krolak-Olejnik told the AFP news agency.

"Her whole family wanted us to try to save the child," she added.

The little boy spent three months in intensive care and has now gone home with family, weighing 3kg.

The mother's life support was switched off shortly after the birth.