Assessment of Somatic Support Process for Pregnant Brain Death Patients Occurring in a Transition Country Between Asia and Europe from Medical, Ethical, Legal and Religious Aspects

In spite of the fact that brain death during pregnancy is not a common occurrence, it is an important ethical problem for all cultures and religions can have a significant influence on the donation decision after brain death. Therefore, this study aimed to present the case of a pregnant patient developing brain death which occurred in our intensive care unit and to compare the medical, ethical and legal problems relating to pregnant cases developing brain death with 24 cases in the literature. A 21-year-old 19-week pregnant case with gestational diabetes was monitored in the anesthesia intensive care unit and developed brain death due to intracranial mass and intraventricular hemorrhage. Though brain death is a situation well understood by organ transplant professionals, brain death developing in pregnant patients still involves many medical, ethical and legal problems.