Mother gives birth to baby boy seven weeks after being declared dead

Nebraska doctors kept Karla Perez on a ventilator to give her unborn son a chance of surviving

Angel Perez was born seven weeks after his mother was declared brain dead (Methodist Health System)

Doctors have delivered a baby boy from a woman declared brain dead seven weeks earlier.

Karla Perez was 22 weeks pregnant when she suffered a brain hemorrhage.

The 22-year-old, from Omaha, Nebraska, was taken to hospital when she collapsed at her home on February 8 after complaining of a severe headache.

Doctors initially thought she had had a stroke, but a CT scan revealed she had had a fatal intracranial hemorrhage and was declared brain dead.

Ms Perez's family convinced medics to keep Ms Perez on life support to give the baby a chance to live. At 22 weeks, baby boy Angel Perez would not have survived outside the womb.

Ms Perez had a team of 100 medical staff that kept her body working enough to sustain Angel for 54 more days so his organs could grow.

It is the first time since 1999 that a brain dead woman has delivered a baby.

Staff at the Methodist Women's Hospital talk about caring for Karla Perez and her unborn baby (Methodist Health System)

“Karla’s family asked us to try and prolong Karla’s life and try to maintain her as long as possible for Angel’s benefit,” Todd Lovgren, a doctor at Methodist Women’s Hospital Perinatal Center, said at a Wednesday news conference.

On April 4, the young mother’s condition began to deteriorate, forcing doctors to deliver Angel via emergency caesarean section the same day. Ms Perez died two days after.

When he was born he weighed just 2lbs 12.6oz and was taken to an intensive care neonatal unit where he was fitted with a breathing tube.

Ms Perez suffered from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and had known for some time that pregnancy could be difficult. She had to come off the medication she was taking while pregnant, leaving her in chronic pain.

Women who have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis are often advised not to get pregnant.

It is unclear why she had a hemorrhage, hospital medical director Andrew Robertson told the Washington Post. He called the case “impressive under the circumstances.”

Angel will likely have to stay in the neonatal unit for another month but is in a stable condition. He is eating through a feeding tube for the time being.

Ms Perez already had a three-year-old daughter called Genesis. Her mother, Berta Jimenez, told local TV station WOWT that she was looking after Angel.

“I was here with her day and night, the two months that she spent here. Day and night,” said Ms Jimenez.

Her daughter also donated her liver, kidney and heart, saving the lives of three other people.