{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T13:48:00Z","timestamp":1792072080620,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792022400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":287,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Law. Med. Ethics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    This commentary provides context and commentary on the article by April Dworetz et al., \u201cEthical and Legal Dilemmas in Prolonged Physiologic Support after Brain Death in Previable Pregnancy,\u201d The\n                    <jats:italic>Journal of Law, Medicine &amp; Ethics<\/jats:italic>\n                    (2026).\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/jme.2026.10285","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T13:10:37Z","timestamp":1792069837000},"page":"301-304","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Commentary on \u201cEthical and Legal Dilemmas in Prolonged Physiologic Support After Brain Death in Previable Pregnancy\u201d"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"54","author":[{"given":"Linda C.","family":"Fentiman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pace University, Elisabeth Haub"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"S107311052610285X_r5","first-page":"87","volume-title":"Blaming Mothers: American Law and the Risks to Children\u2019s Health","author":"Fentiman","year":"2017"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1751143720918974"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r1","unstructured":"1. Other cases, involving civil suits or criminal prosecutions of pregnant women based on behavior which is seen as risky or harmful for fetal development, are beyond the scope of this commentary."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r26","volume-title":"The One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Winners and Losers in the Medicaid Provisions","author":"Alker","year":"2025"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r25","unstructured":"25. Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the US (March of Dimes, 2024), https:\/\/www.marchofdimes.org\/maternity-care-deserts-report."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r20","unstructured":"20. Infant Mortality (Centers for Disease Control, Maternal Infant Health, 2024 (presenting 2022 data)), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/maternal-infant-health\/infant-mortality\/index.html."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r16","unstructured":"16. In 2024, 649 women died due to complications of pregnancy. Donna Hoyert, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024 (CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Health E-Stats 113, March 2026), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/hestat\/hestat113.htm."},{"key":"#cr-split#-S107311052610285X_r3.1","unstructured":"3. See, e. g., In re President & Directors of Georgetown College, Inc., 331 F.2d 1000, 1008 (D.C. Cir. 1964)"},{"key":"#cr-split#-S107311052610285X_r3.2","unstructured":"Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan Hospital v. Anderson, 201 A.2d 537, 538 (N.J. 1964) and Jefferson v. Griffin County Hospital Authority, 274 S.E.2d 457, 458-459 (Ga. 1981)."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r10","unstructured":"10. Fentiman, Blaming Mothers, at 106; Dworetz et.al., \u201cEthical and Legal Dilemmas\u201d; For a detailed breakdown of state laws see Pregnancy Exceptionalism: A Review of Restrictions on Advance Directives (Pregnancy Justice, 2025), https:\/\/www.pregnancyjusticeus.org\/resources\/pregnancy-exceptionalism-a-review-of-restrictions-on-advance-directives\/."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r24","unstructured":"24. Ranji, Usha et al., 5 Key Facts About Medicaid and Pregnancy (KFF, May 29, 2025), https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/5-key-facts-about-medicaid-and-pregnancy\/."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r7","unstructured":"7. 573 A.2d 1235, at 1237, 1247. This reasoning was consistent with changing norms regarding the treatment of other incapacitated patients (see, e. g., Brophy v. New England Sinai Hospital, 497 N.E.2d 626 (Mass. 1986)), as well as people suffering from mental illness. Rogers v. Commissioner, 458 N.E. 2d 308, 318 (Mass. 1983)."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r13","unstructured":"13. Novack, Sophie , \u201cDocumentary Follows a Family\u2019s Fight to Change Texas Law that Turned Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman into an \u2018Incubator\u2019,\u201d Texas Observer, July 26, 2018, https:\/\/www.texasobserver.org\/in-62-days-a-family-fights-to-change-texas-law-that-turned-brain-dead-pregnant-woman-into-an-incubator\/."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r22","unstructured":"22. Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, 2024 Medicaid and CHIP Beneficiaries at a Glance: Maternal Health (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, May 2024), https:\/\/www.medicaid.gov\/medicaid\/benefits\/downloads\/2024-maternal-health-at-a-glance.pdf."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r6","unstructured":"6. 573 A.2d 1235, 1238\u20131241 (D.C. Ct. App. 1990)."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15265161.2025.2554796"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r11","unstructured":"11. American law generally recognizes that dead people and their families have an interest in protecting the dignity of the human body and the appropriate treatment of human remains. Sometimes this is characterized as a quasi-property interest and at other times it is asserted to be a quasi-personhood interest. Cf. Ela Leshem, Dead Bodies As Quasi-Persons, 77 Vanderbilt L. Rev. 999, 1003\u20131004 (2024)."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r9","unstructured":"9. Fentiman, Blaming Mothers, at 105\u2013106."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r12","unstructured":"12. Tex. Health & Safety Code s. 166.049."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2005.072975","article-title":"The Black\u2013White Disparity in Pregnancy-Related Mortality from 5 Conditions: Differences in Prevalence and Case-Fatality Rates","volume":"97","author":"Tucker","year":"2007","journal-title":"American Journal of Public Health"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r28","unstructured":"28. The Trump administration\u2019s cancellation or suspension of many grants studying health disparities, including those involving maternal and infant health, is well-documented. See, e.g., Irena Hwang et al., \u201cThe Disappearing Funds for Chronic Diseases\/Global Health\/Vaccine Research,\u201d New York Times, June 4, 2025, https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/06\/04\/health\/trump-cuts-nih-grants-research.html, and \u201cAdministration Cancels Grants Focused on Care Disparities,\u201d American Organization for Nursing Leadership, March 24, 2025, https:\/\/www.aonl.org\/news\/Administration-cancels-grants-focused-on-care-disparities."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r29","unstructured":"29. Amy Roeder, \u201cWith Federal Maternal Health Database in Limbo, a Risk to Mother and Infant Health,\u201d Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, October 16, 2025, https:\/\/hsph.harvard.edu\/news\/with-federal-maternal-health-database-in-limbo-a-risk-to-mother-and-infant-health\/. \u201cPRAMS uses survey information collected by 46 participating state health departments from women soon after they give birth. In April 2025, the entire CDC team managing PRAMS was placed on administrative leave before it could release 2023 data.\u201d See also Drishti Pillai, Latoya Hill, and Samantha Artiga, Disappearing Data: Implications for Addressing Health Disparities, (KFF, September 23, 2025), https:\/\/www.kff.org\/racial-equity-and-health-policy\/disappearing-federal-data-implications-for-addressing-health-disparities\/."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r14","unstructured":"14. Munoz v. John Peter Smith Hospital, Cause No. 096-270080-14 (District Ct., Tarrant County, Tex., 96th Judicial District, Jan. 24, 2014."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r4","article-title":"Certainly in the field of obstetrics, physicians have been highly risk averse and afraid of being sued for malpractice if labor and delivery led to the birth of a baby with birth-related injuries","volume":"51","author":"Bassett","year":"2000","journal-title":"Social Science and Medicine"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r18","unstructured":"18. For example, the maternal death rate per 100,000 births is 3.4 in Japan, 5.5 in the United Kingdom, 8.4 in Canada, and 22.3 in the United States. Munira Z. Gunja et al., Insights into the U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison (Commonwealth Fund, 2024), https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/issue-briefs\/2024\/jun\/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison. Even the maternal death rate for non-Hispanic white women is much higher than those of other industrialized nations."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r21","article-title":"Trends and Characteristics in Gestational Hypertension, United States, 2016-2024","volume":"75","author":"Gregory","year":"2026","journal-title":"National Vital Statistics Reports"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"8. ACOG Committee Opinion Number 501, 118 (No. 2, Part 1) Obstetrics and Gynecology 405 (Aug. 2011). The two groups declared, Because it is impossible to treat the fetus without going through the pregnant woman either physically or pharmacologically, any fetal intervention has implications for the pregnant woman\u2019s health and necessarily her bodily integrity and, therefore, cannot be performed without her explicit informed consent. Obstetrics and Gynecology at 405. Further, the Opinion rejected any effort to balance a pregnant patient\u2019s interests against the potential life of a fetus. It stated, \u201cAlthough a parental decision may, in certain circumstances, be overridden for a child after birth, even the strongest evidence for fetal benefit would not be sufficient ethically to ever override a pregnant woman\u2019s decision to forgo fetal treatment.\u201d ACOG Committee Opinion Number 501 at 406.","DOI":"10.1097\/AOG.0b013e31822c99af"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r19","unstructured":"19. Data from the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control, Maternal Mortality Prevention, 2025), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/maternal-mortality\/php\/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-data\/index.html."},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amepre.2022.09.026"},{"key":"S107311052610285X_r2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/jme.2026.10260","article-title":"Ethical and Legal Dilemmas in Prolonged Physiologic Support After Brain Death in Previable Pregnancy","volume":"54","author":"Dworetz","year":"2026","journal-title":"Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics"}],"container-title":["Journal of Law, Medicine &amp; Ethics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S107311052610285X","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T13:11:25Z","timestamp":1792069885000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S107311052610285X\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":30,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}},"alternative-id":["S107311052610285X"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/jme.2026.10285","relation":{},"ISSN":["1073-1105","1748-720X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1073-1105","type":"print"},{"value":"1748-720X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}}}