Susan Torres


Susan Michelle Rollin Torres was an American woman known for giving birth to a baby girl while brain dead and on a life support machine. Torres had suffered a stroke on May 7, 2005 as a consequence of her undiagnosed Stage IV Malignant Melanoma, and was taken to the Virginia Hospital Center, where it was determined that cancer had spread to her brain. At the hospital Susan Torres was diagnosed as being brain dead and her husband, Jason, decided that as she was 14 weeks pregnant at the time and their Catholic faith, that they would keep her on life support in order to save the baby. A fund was set up to assist with the hospital bills and for the baby's care.
The infant, Susan Ann Catherine Torres, was born on August 2, 2005 through a caesarean section and weighed 1 pound, 13 ounces. The mother, Torres, was removed from life support on August 3, 2005 and died the same day. As the baby's birth was premature, the infant suffered from an intestinal disorder that required surgery. On September 12, 2005, Susan Ann Catherine Torres died shortly after a surgery for a perforated intestine.