What would you do if you had a baby born without a brain?

There is a condition called anecephaly in which a baby is born with only a brain stem and maybe some malformed brain tissue. Most babies with this condition are stillborn and the few that live are only alive for minutes or hours.

But with modern medicine, some of these babies are living up to three years. The babies are deaf and most likely blind. They can breathe, blink and sometimes eat without assistance. Some of these parents are insisting that their babies can learn to smile and recognize their parents. I watched videos of these babies and I think the smiles were just reflexes.

Here is a blog of baby Vitoria where the baby lived up to 2½ and was well documented, videotaped and loved. Here is a news article of baby Nickolas who lived until shortly after his third birthday.

Just to note: Some parents donate their baby’s organs even when they are still alive. Usually, the organs are in healthy condition and there is a shortage of organs available. These parents reason that even though the baby can blink and move around that the child is clinically brain dead and there is nothing but reflexes happening.

Also, this can be detected very early in pregnancy with ultrasound and is a common reason for mid and late term abortions.

The question is, would you go through with the pregnancy? Would you make efforts to keep the baby alive if you did? Could you love a baby with no brain?