From the Houston Chronicle: An infant girl born with all the right parts but a key one in the wrong place is recovering at Texas Children's Hospital, five weeks after she was delivered with one of the rarest of heart defects.
Texas Children's doctors reported Tuesday on the remarkable case of Audrina Cardenas, who was born with much of her heart outside her body, a highly unusual condition that's usually fatal within the first few days after birth. The doctors said her prognosis is favorable.
"I think she's going to make it," said Dr. Charles Fraser, the Texas Children's surgeon-in-chief who led the surgery. "Her heart's structurally in good shape, and she's survived the initial 48 to 72 hours after birth that are so tenuous for these patients."...
Audrina's condition was discovered 16 weeks into the pregnancy of Ashley Cardenas, 25, an Odessa title loans manager and mother of twins. She'd never heard of the diagnosis when doctors told her an ultrasound showed the developing malformation.
Cardenas was referred to Texas Children's but not before her doctors gave her three options: abort; bring the baby to term, but then provide only comfort care to ease any suffering before she died; or put her through the difficult, often unsuccessful surgery.
At the time, doctors didn't know Audrina's chances, whether she was a good candidate to survive or - more likely - to be stillborn or die soon after birth.
Acknowledging the difficulty of the decision, Cardenas said, "You'll never know what it feels like to make that decision until you're in that situation yourself." http://www.chron.com/news/health/article/Baby-born-with-heart-outside-her-body-is-making-4053825.php#photo-3768227
Clearly, the parents made the right choice and it sounds like the baby is in great hands of skilled doctors, nurses and technicians.
Of course, in 10 years, could the parents be allowed to make the same choice in the United States?
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