# Woman in coma gives birth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 7, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356 "2019-01-07T14:58:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/81 "2019-01-09T06:56:09Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Who’s going to get custody of the baby? The family of the patient? Unless the patient’s family wants custody, the baby is probably in foster care and will eventually be adopted. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/82 "2019-01-09T08:13:55Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > I understand that the police can’t force dna tests on all of the male employees without warrants, but it seems that the facility itself could demand their male employees submit DNA or be terminated. That would certainly narrow the suspect list. I could be wrong. I often am. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (linked above post #23) prohibits employers from requiring employees to submit DNA samples. (There are some exceptions which don’t seem to apply here.) ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/83 "2019-01-09T08:16:55Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Serious question, help fight ignorance - Given she was comatose, & therefore incontinent, she’d be in a diaper 24x7. Is there any reason to treat a period differently than urine or feces & have it collected in a diaper? If not, then would caregivers necessarily notice when she did/not have her period? I’d have assumed a catheter and rectal tube instead. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/84 "2019-01-09T08:18:26Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I’d have assumed a catheter and rectal tube instead. No, those are avoided as much as possible, as they cause further damage to the body. That applies whether the patient is comatose or merely incontinent. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/85 "2019-01-09T12:37:03Z")
N/m - ninjaed. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/86 "2019-01-09T14:19:54Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Do you always have to bring in some abortion/LGBT/religion/atheism non-sequiter into threads like these? This is a repeated pattern of yours. Well, pardon me for being a woman who has opinions and expresses them. I guess I should be a nice, quiet girl who never voices a thought that might offended someone. Ain’t going to happen. If having a woman in a coma who is raped, impregnated and gives birth isn’t an argument for legal abortion, what is? Let’s make sure that baby goes to a straight, married couple because any other form of parenting (i.e. single, gay, or lesbian) is child abuse. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/87 "2019-01-09T14:39:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Well, pardon me for being a woman who has opinions and expresses them. I guess I should be a nice, quiet girl who never voices a thought that might offended someone. Ain’t going to happen. > > If having a woman in a coma who is raped, impregnated and gives birth isn’t an argument for legal abortion, what is? > > Let’s make sure that baby goes to a straight, married couple because any other form of parenting (i.e. single, gay, or lesbian) is child abuse. I don’t know what kind of abortion you want to give this woman unless it’s post-birth. No one knew she was pregnant. My guess is, if they’d had an inkling, they would’ve aborted her under the radar so the news wouldn’t leak out to the general public. StG ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/88 "2019-01-09T18:11:02Z")
They’ve collected DNA from the male staff. It takes maybe a few weeks for the test results? > **[DNA samples of Arizona care facility’s male staffers collected after woman in...](https://www.foxnews.com/us/dna-samples-of-arizona-care-facilitys-male-staffers-collected-after-woman-in-vegetative-state-gives-birth)** > > DNA samples from all male employees at an Arizona long-term care facility were collected Tuesday as authorities investigate how a woman — who has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade — became pregnant and carried the baby to term without... ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/89 "2019-01-09T18:14:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > They’ve collected DNA from the male staff. It takes maybe a few weeks for the test results? > [DNA samples of Arizona care facility’s male staffers collected after woman in vegetative state gives birth | Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/us/dna-samples-of-arizona-care-facilitys-male-staffers-collected-after-woman-in-vegetative-state-gives-birth) If that doesn’t pan out, can they do the same when it comes to the male patients in the facility? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/90 "2019-01-09T18:38:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If that doesn’t pan out, can they do the same when it comes to the male patients in the facility? I would bet they need to get permission from the parents/guardians of the patients, assuming the patients are not legally capable of consenting on their own. I wonder what would happen if some male patient was found to have done it, but lacked the means to understand what he was doing. The care facility would still be on the hook for inadequate supervision, but are they _in loco parentis_? Would the male patient be transferred to a hospital for the criminally insane? I can’t imagine leaving him in the same care facility - but would anyone else accept him, given the possible liability if he does something like this again? :eek: Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/91 "2019-01-09T19:57:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Well, pardon me for being a woman who has opinions and expresses them. I guess I should be a nice, quiet girl who never voices a thought that might offended someone… You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, as you know. You just have a truly obnoxious way of expressing it. Cite: > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And the anti-abortion group does a Happy Dance. “God intended for that baby to be born to that mother.” mmm ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/92 "2019-01-09T20:10:21Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Law & Order had a storyline like this. Turned out the victim’s mother wanted a grandchild and paid some dude to knock-up her daughter. Lots of legal highjinks ensued. > > Not quite, IIRC. Her doctor impregnated her to get stem cells to help his wealthy patient, who had Parkinson’s. The mother wanted to keep the baby because it was her grandchild and she was herself against abortion. I think this was an SVU episode. From my memory, that’s two different episodes. One, a man confessed to a rape he did not commit (turned out mentally handicapped girl/woman had sex with a mentally handicapped boy/man - can’t recall ages there), to avoid getting caught for the one he did. That was the one where the patient’s parents hired the rapist because they wanted a grandchild (their daughter miscarried from the accident that killed her husband and put her in a coma). A completely separate episode had the artificial insemination and the I remember the argument that she the patient was an organ donor, so she would have been okay with this. The owner of the sperm then sued for custody (woman’s parent(s) wanted custody, too), but that seemed to be about getting the cord blood/stem cells. I wouldn’t swear both were L&O, but I was thinking they were. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/93 "2019-01-09T22:33:23Z")
As of right now, the mother’s family is caring for the baby. [https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/family-says-it-will-care-for-baby-born-to-comatose/article\_a6ceb01b-198f-573b-ab38-317386d03fc3.html](https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/family-says-it-will-care-for-baby-born-to-comatose/article_a6ceb01b-198f-573b-ab38-317386d03fc3.html) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/94 "2019-01-10T05:36:45Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Ok, but to be fair you work in a prison. Your horribleness bar is high. > > For me, this story’s breathtaking in its awfulness. She was potentially exposed to STDs by her rapist, there’s no telling how often he raped her, and there’s no telling if she was aware of being assaulted. Her family must be shattered by this. At the risk of insensitivity, because this is certainly an awful thing, but if she _wasn’t_ aware of being assaulted, doesn’t that make this less horrible than most rapes? I am surprised at a warrant being issued for the DNA of all the male workers. I guess it depends on how large that group is. I thought warrants had to be fairly specific. Any lawyers want to chime in on how broad warrants like that can be? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/95 "2019-01-10T08:43:22Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > At the risk of insensitivity, because this is certainly an awful thing, but if she _wasn’t_ aware of being assaulted, doesn’t that make this less horrible than most rapes? No. No, it does not. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/96 "2019-01-10T08:46:58Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > At the risk of insensitivity, because this is certainly an awful thing, but if she _wasn’t_ aware of being assaulted, doesn’t that make this less horrible than most rapes? I’ve seen that reasoning used to dismiss as “not so serious” rapes of children who at the time didn’t understand what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/97 "2019-01-10T09:24:08Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Even from a religious perspective, this is wildly incorrect. > > God allowed the free will of the perpetrator to override God’s choice on the matter. > > God wouldn’t be much of a God if He gave us free will, and then overrode it whenever it was convenient. Bear in mind that the Christian god (or at least one of the dissociative identity disorder suffering Christian god’s personalities – Holy Ghost) knocked up a woman without her knowing it. That god certainly overrode that woman’s free will when that god rode her. Hopefully the Holy Ghost had not been at it again with that unfortunate woman in the care facility – which brings us to the point: had the impregnated woman been receiving pastoral care? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/98 "2019-01-10T09:56:20Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Bear in mind that the Christian god (or at least one of the dissociative identity disorder suffering Christian god’s personalities – Holy Ghost) knocked up a woman without her knowing it. No, she consented. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/99 "2019-01-10T10:45:25Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Well, pardon me for being a woman who has opinions and expresses them. I guess I should be a nice, quiet girl who never voices a thought that might offended someone. Ain’t going to happen. > > If having a woman in a coma who is raped, impregnated and gives birth isn’t an argument for legal abortion, what is? > > Let’s make sure that baby goes to a straight, married couple because any other form of parenting (i.e. single, gay, or lesbian) is child abuse. What on earth has abortion got to do with this case? Can you get any more off topic than shouting about abortion in a case where nobody knew she was pregnant until the baby was born? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356/100 "2019-01-10T12:38:54Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > But this is tragic. > 14 YEARS??? Why would anyone keep a person in a vegetative state alive for 14 years??? Let the poor woman die. Let her family move on. That is a credit to modern medical science and to the standard of care provided. When I was paying more attention to such things, 2 years in a persistent vegetative state would have been a good outcome, and 14 years would have indicated that she was sitting up, and probably could walk with support and direction (like a sleepy child). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-in-coma-gives-birth/827356.md?page=6)