"Clandestine" home delivery with mifepristone.
Abortion access
Fetus status
Forensic science
Forensic toxicology
Mifepristone
Journal
Forensic science, medicine, and pathology
ISSN: 1556-2891
Titre abrégé: Forensic Sci Med Pathol
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101236111
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
29 Nov 2022
29 Nov 2022
Historique:
accepted:
14
11
2022
entrez:
29
11
2022
pubmed:
30
11
2022
medline:
30
11
2022
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Denial of pregnancy is a rare psychic process associated with an increased risk of infant death. Forensic examinations to determine viability at birth can heavily influence the legal proceedings in cases of clandestine deliveries that result in the death of the infant. A 32-year-old woman who experienced a denial of pregnancy up to 30 weeks of amenorrhea reported giving birth at home at an estimated term of 35 weeks of amenorrhea. No one witnessed the delivery. She claimed the infant was stillborn. Forensic examinations revealed characteristic features of a live born infant. The mother tested positive for mifepristone. Mifepristone is an anti-progestin drug used for early abortion and to induce labor in cases of in-utero fetal death in later pregnancy. Even if mifepristone crosses the placenta, it has no direct toxic effect on the fetus. Our observations suggest premature live birth caused by mifepristone, followed by asphyxia due to meconium inhalation syndrome associated with lung immaturity especially since the birth occurred at home and no medical care was provided after the birth. The tragic outcome of this clinical case calls for vigilance and global management, including the psychiatric care of parturients in the context of late discovery of pregnancy. In France, this situation showed a legal gap between the consideration of the fetus and laws concerning abortion. To our knowledge, in France, this case has allowed the court to set a legal precedent as a similar case had never been reported elsewhere.
Identifiants
pubmed: 36445505
doi: 10.1007/s12024-022-00561-7
pii: 10.1007/s12024-022-00561-7
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
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