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Adriana Smith
217 Plays20 days ago
Welcome back to the Mothers of All Crime
This week on the Mothers of All Crime we are taking a detour to Georgia. We are not discussing a mother who is a criminal this time. Adriana Smith was a nurse, daughter, mother, friend, partner until tragedy struck. Adriana was in the early stages of pregnancy when a blood clot (and possible misdiagnosis/malpractice) changed everything. After being declared brain dead her next of kin was not allowed to decide what would happen with her corpse and fetus. Instead the state of Georgia and the hospital decided that she would be a human incubator. She is being kept "alive" on machines until the fetus is considered viable. Krystal and Monica discuss this complex and devastating case that feels right out of Handmaid's Tale.
UPDATE ** the day this aired 6/17/25 baby Chance was delivered and is currently in the NICU***
Listener discretion is advised.
May contain explicit language and unfounded accusations.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Mothers of All Crime'
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Mothers of All Crime. This is a podcast where we deep dive into mothers involved in infamous crimes and scandals. I'm Monica and this is Crystal.
Viral Story of Adriana Smith
00:00:52
Speaker
Welcome back to the Mothers of All Crime. I'm here with my girl, Crystal. We're going be chittin' chattin' about a news story that features a mother, but the mother herself is not a criminal or the problem of the story.
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, this one kind of went viral not that long ago and people have very strong opinions on it for a lot of different reasons, which is kind of different versus I feel like camps normally go one or the other.
00:01:22
Speaker
And this one has like four or five, i think. i Yeah, I definitely think that it's it's raised a lot of controversies and it touches a lot of really important issues.
00:01:35
Speaker
And it's an intersection of law and morality and ethics and medicine, science um people's wishes, ah you know, autonomy.
00:01:47
Speaker
There's all kinds of ways that you could look at this. And think it's an emotional situation. so we're going to be talking about Adriana Smith, who was a nurse and a mom of a little boy.
00:02:00
Speaker
um She's a nurse in Georgia, and she was about eight weeks pregnant and was having really bad headaches. She went to the hospital to try to get...
00:02:13
Speaker
you know treatment for that. and She was ultimately given medication. She was discharged. And then the next day she woke up gasping for air and was soon declared brain dead at the hospital.
00:02:28
Speaker
There were blood clots in her brain. um so that was back in February, 2025. She was declared brain dead, which is obviously ah tragic, tragic situation.
Legal and Ethical Questions in Georgia
00:02:42
Speaker
but she also was in very early stages of pregnancy And in Georgia, it's a little unclear legally what is supposed to be done in a situation where a pregnant person is on life support ventilator and completely brain dead.
00:03:04
Speaker
So it's put the family in a terrible situation and caused a lot of controversy. and I just think it's yeah interesting to talk about. Yeah, and I think particularly right now where all the states have kind of taken their own avenue when it comes to pregnancy. And her being so early on, I think, is also why people became very passionate about this case.
00:03:33
Speaker
and Because it's not like she was nine months pregnant about to give birth in a week. She was eight or nine weeks pregnant. So very, very early on. Right. And the Georgia's life act is kind of what is the connection here, right? The legal passing where it's nicknamed the heartbeat bill, which gives you an idea of where it goes to.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yes. Yes. So that's basically a six week ban on abortion. And There are some exceptions, but it's usually in a situation where the mother's life is an imminent risk.
00:04:22
Speaker
And there's been an argument made that Adriana not suffering. She's not at risk. Unfortunately, she's already passed away.
00:04:32
Speaker
So what is the harm? Who is being harmed in this situation? um Who is at risk in this situation? So it doesn't necessarily fall under one of the exemptions.
00:04:44
Speaker
But there's certainly been multiple ways of interpreting the law, and there are people who feel very passionately on either way. um and I think you know that, unfortunately, is why
00:04:58
Speaker
this is such a problem in the first place is because the laws should, they should detail every specific situation that could possibly happen pretty much because otherwise it is going to be on a case by case open to your interpretation basis, which is going to cause delays and is obviously going to cause harm.
00:05:19
Speaker
And it's not like this was an unprevict, unpredictable situation. this is something that should have been talked about with this ban, what is done in this specific situation, because in Georgia and in a lot of places, when a woman is pregnant, her, um her advanced directive is invalidated. The pregnancy supersedes their, um, what they've previously stated that they want, even if they've done it legally.
00:05:51
Speaker
And that's,
00:05:55
Speaker
I don't know. I just feel like everyone's calling it an unprecedented situation, which it's not. This has actually happened before. Yeah, I think it's also one of those, the timing of it. So when the laws changed, they kind of came up with these laws relatively quickly.
00:06:12
Speaker
And because they needed something, right? Like you can't just go without a law. So without doing like specific deep research on how the law was written and where it was passed and things like that,
00:06:26
Speaker
A lot of laws of when you're creating them, here's the base, right? And then as circumstances happen in that region is when they start adding addendums and footnotes and all those extra parts.
Public Discourse and Legislative Impact
00:06:38
Speaker
And it's it's tough because then you have the Georgia Attorney General's office who actually made a formal statement saying that the Life Act doesn't require keeping the woman alive.
00:06:53
Speaker
on life support and it's lawmakers and hospital officials who are interpreting the law differently keeping her on life support so now you have officials also going back and forth and it's it's that gray area right and It is nice that we live in a country that people can debate laws and can argue things. And that's how change is made.
00:07:19
Speaker
So it's, I'm happy that there is a conversation because if people just were compliant with everything, i think that's, that's the benefit of being here. And if Georgia wants to change a law, the only way that that's going to happen is by public conversation.
00:07:38
Speaker
Most of the time, people like lawmakers don't go in and be like, I feel like changing a bill today because these are not easy to draft. They're not easy to get signed, let alone in actual law.
00:07:52
Speaker
But I think it's also new enough where if things are going to change, this would be a good time to and maybe even and Smith is going to be part of the reason why things do change or become more specific, I should say.
Family Challenges and Decision-Making
00:08:11
Speaker
I would like to think that. I would like there to be some good that comes out of this terrible situation. um Because i think it's I think it's important to say that her family has expressed earlier on in the pregnancy.
00:08:27
Speaker
but in that I don't want to say in the pregnancy. Earlier on when Adriana was pronounced brain dead, her family, her mother, her boyfriend wanted to remove her from life support. She has a young son who's visiting her still in the hospital.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it's very traumatic and confusing for him. And the medical bills are just racking up. Also, her mother has started to go fund me.
00:08:53
Speaker
They were not given the choices to make the, they weren't given any choices to make this decision. and they now are going to have to deal with all the consequences of it, which also brings up the ultimate issue when it comes to things like Roe being overturned and abortion laws in general is who gets to make these decisions.
00:09:14
Speaker
Who is the person that makes these decisions? Should it be the government? Should it be the individual? Should it be strictly left to medical professionals? And I think it's probably all of those things.
00:09:26
Speaker
And it's how do we...
00:09:29
Speaker
Navigate it. How do we navigate it And how do those things all come to a common solution? Because they they have different interests. Well, yeah. And I think the reality is you're never going to make everybody happy, no matter what your law is, no matter what you do.
00:09:46
Speaker
Someone's going to be unhappy, unfortunately. um When it comes to the financial aspect, though, that that's interesting because I would not have assumed that the family would be responsible for those medical bills.
00:10:00
Speaker
um Because if the hospital was the one choosing to keep her alive... Against family wishes and now against the attorney general's office statement.
00:10:13
Speaker
I would not have assumed that the family would be responsible for the financial aspect of keeping her on life support.
00:10:24
Speaker
Well, I think right now Adriana herself is still responsible for it. Until she's actually... Like she's brain dead, but she's still being kept alive. so that's So does she still have insurance? is she i mean To my understanding, if you are- just read her mom's GoFundMe and it said that there's excessive medical bills. But also we have to think about, let's say this fetus survives, which is a point that we haven't gotten to yet.
00:10:55
Speaker
who now is responsible for those medical bills. Right. Certainly not the state of Georgia. That's not who's going paying for it. and I wonder if that's maybe what she's referring to or like the tests and stuff prior to the...
00:11:09
Speaker
prolonged life support. but also when you're brain dead, do you do you how long does your insurance stay active? She's been brain dead since February. Well, you're if you're pronounced brain dead, you're legally considered dead.
00:11:21
Speaker
So then she doesn't have insurance, right? Right. So then you would think that the... Because if there's no medical insurance sometimes... she a ward of the state? Yeah. Then the state takes so ironically Or ironically, is it falling to her next of kin?
00:11:37
Speaker
which who are the people who are responsible now in this situation who are being, who are not given any rights or choices, but now have consequences of them.
Fetal Health and Medical Concerns
00:11:48
Speaker
And regardless of they get her bills, if that fetus survives, they will get his, they have the ad that, uh, and it's going to be millions and millions of dollars because NICU stays rack up quick and even best case scenario,
00:12:03
Speaker
that baby will need to go to the NICU. But I do think it's, I don't know if we're at that point yet, but talking about the actual fetus and the well-being of the fetus, um because that's also something that's caused a lot of people to feel, I feel like even people who felt strong felt maybe moderately about the situation in general, after hearing about the fetal effects, maybe feel a little bit differently.
00:12:30
Speaker
And i mean, I just have ray read from so um ah quote from her mother saying that there is fluid also niina known as hydrocephalus in the baby's brain.
00:12:45
Speaker
And then, cause she's about, so at the time of this recording, she's about 23 weeks pregnant. And the, there's a quote here from Steve L. Ralston, the director of maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington university.
00:13:00
Speaker
He said, the chances of there being a healthy newborn at the end of this very are very, very small. He may be blind, not be able to walk, may not survive once he's born. Right. So there's a survival question. There's a quality of life question. There's brain or abnormalities if they the fetus does survive. Like it's...
00:13:23
Speaker
It's now bringing up the question of is it worth it, right? And I think that's, like you said, where the people who may have been leaning towards allowing the pregnancy to go to term because their instinctual reaction was probably – well, then we can have a healthy baby at the end of all of this tragic incident.
00:13:44
Speaker
But now having it come out that that's probably, if that happens, it's like less than 1%, right? And i think that's where that and another camp is open being like, okay, i I kind of pulling back. Like it's not at this early on, it's not worth it.
00:14:02
Speaker
um And again, now we have the question of, It's not just Smith, right? It's Smith plus a fetus plus baby plus whatever you want to refer to it as.
00:14:17
Speaker
It right brings that other question in. It's not just one thing.
00:14:25
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And I mean, this is this is a hard topic to talk about, because it is so it is so tragic. And I could understand the argument that there's already been a horrific loss, and why have two horrific losses?
00:14:43
Speaker
i I do understand that argument. And I will say her her family has said beautiful things also about wanting the baby and they'll accept it however, and they've named the baby Chance and they would, you know, that's still a part of their daughter.
00:15:01
Speaker
But... At what cost, at what quality of life, and what is the implication of all of this for their family and for everyone else, it's it's a pretty grim situation. and there's obviously no happy solution to it.
00:15:21
Speaker
But...
00:15:23
Speaker
It just, it seems like such a long time to be dragging this out. Yeah. Particularly when you don't have the family support, right? And I think that's also a huge reason why there's such an outrage is if the family was sitting there and 100% on board, i don't know if this case would be as ah hot topic as it is.
00:15:47
Speaker
And... Probably not. If it was the opposite, right? So wondering if
00:15:55
Speaker
the family was on board and the medical staff weren't would they still be fight like would it still go as viral where if the family's like no we want to keep her on support the hospital saying we don't think that's the best idea would that still be an option i think there's those other aspects well they're where where's the line
00:16:18
Speaker
So that's a
Debate on Life Support Continuation
00:16:20
Speaker
good point. And there have been people who have made huge news, like Terry Shriver, for example. There are people who there are lawsuits and there are disagreements within families, within with patients, families and doctors, with lawyers, all kinds of things where it's.
00:16:37
Speaker
it's a debate of should this person be kept on life support or on whatever support that they're getting and how long do we do it and at what cost and to what end and what is the quality of life is, is someone being completely brain dead the cutoff or is someone just being in a persistent vegetative state and the prognosis is very grim at what point is something truly terminal it's,
00:17:05
Speaker
That's all up for debate here. And I think that the idea of fetal personhood in the law, obviously that that comes up here. And so if the fetus is a person, is this humane?
00:17:18
Speaker
If the fetus is not a person, is this humane? Like, i I think it's either way you look at it, you could probably argue both ways. Yeah. yeah And i think that's why it's so tough because you have people on both sides that are very, very passionate about both. And then you have a lot of people who sit in the middle where it's more circumstantial.
00:17:41
Speaker
And on topics like this, there's people tend to have an opinion, right? It's not one of those. Yeah. I don't know, I could be swayed either way Most people, by the time they hit their midlife period, have a strong opinion. And they may respect someone else's opinion, but they have an opinion.
00:18:03
Speaker
And in states, yes, there's like a social... group or a social majority, but even the majority, there's still a minority aspect that might not agree.
00:18:17
Speaker
So having an act like this and ah circumstance like this, it it becomes really complicated.
00:18:28
Speaker
It can. Yeah, it can. I'd be curious if the Attorney General, how they feel about that Life Act in general. Because they didn't make a statement about their opinion on the Life Act, which obviously politically they they wouldn't.
00:18:44
Speaker
But it would be interesting. Sure. if they ever could, what their actual opinions of the life act are, because them making a statement that that act does not require the woman to be maintained on life support.
00:19:00
Speaker
If they're brain dead to keep a fetus to term, that's a pretty bold thing to do. Well, I guess that's their interpretation of the law though. They think that that is an exception And some people don't think it's an exception.
00:19:20
Speaker
And where a lot of the time in other abortive situations, other abortion situations in in these states that have these laws, the medical personnel, they're unsure of what to do sometimes.
00:19:34
Speaker
They're unsure of does this meet the criteria or not? Is this a severe enough situation that we can act or do we need to wait until someone is more septic before we can interfere?
00:19:45
Speaker
Right. And that brings up delays. And this is a very extreme version of this, perhaps. I do think that they're taking a stance in the hospital.
00:19:56
Speaker
I'm not sure who's actually enforcing this day to day. um i guess probably no one because the family is still visiting her. It's not like she's being kept in a...
00:20:08
Speaker
facility like or something like a hospital but i mean she's not right so i don't i guess no one's enforcing it and her family's just complying with it and at this point they're so far into it that i guess they're like this is just the reality that they're dealing with and i think for the family it's hard for me that they don't get to make any decisions and yeah that as someone who works in medicine myself and Adriana was it a nurse, like I'm sure that this topic
00:20:46
Speaker
Not this specific situation, but the idea of being on life support, the idea of what measures to go to. I feel like these topics come up when you work in healthcare care more so than when you don't.
00:20:59
Speaker
And I just, I feel like her family would be the best people to speak for her. But also, even if she had it in writing, even if she had advanced directive that said, if I'm on life support, pull me.
00:21:11
Speaker
I don't know if that would matter in this situation because does the fetus personhood trump that? Yeah, that's interesting because it it, at least to our knowledge, that she doesn't have any of those things. And from an outside perspective, she was close with her family because i think it would be very easy for like an estranged family member to come out and sit do things like,
Family Dynamics and Legal Rights
00:21:39
Speaker
I miss them. I miss the opportunity.
00:21:41
Speaker
Let me keep the baby or whatever. And but this in this circumstance, it seems like she was very close to her family. So you're right. Like those conversations probably would have been had.
00:21:53
Speaker
And I think in close families, you talk about the inevitable. Right. And the extreme, particularly when you have children already. So like she already has a son.
00:22:05
Speaker
So the majority of parents have those conversations like if something happens to me, i want my son to go here. If something happens to me, do x Y, and Z to take care of them. So like, I can't imagine that that wouldn't have been a conversation and probably not this very specific circumstance, but I think she probably had those conversations with her boyfriend, with her parents to organize that.
00:22:34
Speaker
And yeah, Yeah, I don't know what if she had something already in writing. She may. We might not... we She may have it already writing. We just don't know and may not have been public.
00:22:46
Speaker
I don't know.
00:22:49
Speaker
It's possible. But even if even if it was, i don't think it would matter in the situation. um Because when you're when you are incapacitated, your next of kin speaks for you in other situations.
00:23:02
Speaker
And... and So i just I just don't know who is considered more important in this situation at this point with the Life Act, with the fetal personhood.
00:23:14
Speaker
um And it brings up just a larger issue of autonomy. And it can really make you feel very... It's very scary to think about...
00:23:27
Speaker
how this could affect, like just thinking about it in a more of a big scheme, I suppose, kind of very Handmaid's Tale. I mean, there's an actual scene in Handmaid's Tale where this happening. Yeah, waiting for you to bring that Where she's visiting ah a brain dead person who's just gestating a fetus in a hospital bed in a coma.
00:23:49
Speaker
And it's so dystopian. It's so disturbing. And yet that is a situation that is happening to a a dead woman in Georgia, in America, ah mother, a nurse, a professional, a person,
00:24:10
Speaker
is dead and she has not been buried. She's just in suspense in a hospital bed while her family visit her corpse and her fetus gestates in her corpse.
00:24:22
Speaker
And it's a scene out of Handmaid's Tale, but it's real. And it's happening in 2025. It just blows my mind. And does that make you ever, I mean, it kind of makes me worry about I'm not necessarily worried about it, but it's like, are other women in comas vulnerable to being used as surrogates? Like if we really, you know, what's the harm in that?
00:24:43
Speaker
You know, if they're if they're dead anyway, just keep them on. Just keep them on machines. Why don't we keep them all on machines? There's a population crisis. it's I mean, I don't know if i'd go that far. It's scary shit.
00:24:55
Speaker
But it's like we're already in Handmaid's Tale. Of course, that's very extreme. But it's like if someone's not a person, but their uterus can still be of use, we're still going to use it Yeah. I don't know if I would... You could liken it to organ donation maybe. And I'm perhaps spiraling, but it really is something that...
00:25:18
Speaker
it's there is not really a huge difference. I don't know if would go as far as we're going to impregnate people who are in comas, but i I could see the spiral of if people already are pregnant maintaining life due to all the things you mentioned. i do see that jump um just because of, again, like there are a decent amount of states that have impacted laws like this for sure.
00:25:46
Speaker
um Or could be interpreted this way. hope I'm being absolutely nuts because it really freaks me out. just It's just... It's like... It's just at what cost do we need to do this?
00:26:02
Speaker
And I just don't... i don't know. I just feel like it's descended so quickly into... But this actually isn't an unprecedented situation.
Precedents and State Laws
00:26:10
Speaker
Like I said before, i found a case from...
00:26:13
Speaker
um 2013, where a woman, Marlise Munoz, ah she was on a ventilator ICU. She had a pulmonary embolism and she was brain dead. And the her husband wanted her to be removed from life support.
00:26:35
Speaker
And a Texas law restricts the application of advanced directives in pregnant patients. so And he argued in court that that law didn't apply his wife because she was legally dead.
00:26:48
Speaker
And she was eventually removed from um life support. But it wasn't until the fetus started having deformities that that was actually um at about 22 weeks, actually. It was severely deformed.
00:27:04
Speaker
The legs were like, un ape they could not see... certain organs. There was an abnormality. I'm sorry. I'm trying to read it. The fetus had severe abnormalities caused by oxygen deprivation and was likely non-viable.
00:27:19
Speaker
The fetus had fluid building up inside the skull, hydrocephalus, and had a heart problem. There was lower extremities were deformed to the extent that the sex could not be determined. um An attorney who had helped rewrite the Texas law cited as the reasoning for maintaining life support said that there was a problem with the application of the law that was no longer alive.
00:27:38
Speaker
So it was essentially the same argument. And this is instead of it being the Life Act, instead of it being the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it's instead of it just being an abortion law.
00:27:51
Speaker
It's also just that. Someone's advanced directive doesn't apply if they're pregnant, which I guess was a pre-existing Because that was before Roe versus Wade was overturned.
00:28:01
Speaker
was 2013. Yeah. Right.
00:28:04
Speaker
right Yeah, and I think that's that's the other thing, is when you have state laws versus federal laws versus even local ordinances, like they can all kind of interact and counterdict each other.
00:28:22
Speaker
So at the end of the day, i think people have this idea that my wishes will always be
00:28:32
Speaker
followed or implemented as i want them to be. And I don't, not to be negative, but that's not the reality in a lot of cases. And we can do the best we can, but just because we want something doesn't mean we get it.
00:28:48
Speaker
And i think there are circumstances that are much more important that should be considered. For example, being kept on life support. And right for me, I think that's really where I have a hard time is it's it's is's against her wish, her future. Like, don't get me wrong, the fetus thing is a whole different avenue, but just taking...
00:29:17
Speaker
Adriana herself. Like, she doesn't want to be on my support. Her family doesn't want her on my support. Like, it was eight weeks. And I don't know, i just at that point.
00:29:33
Speaker
i don't know. I think the family's wishes to be really considered. But then you have the question of how close is your family? Because if you have a circumstance where you're not close with your family, but they the ones having regrets, because there are a lot of like doctors that have mentioned that the The living families, even in the best of circumstances, right? There was just a random car accident.
00:29:56
Speaker
They theyre ended up being dead on life support. The families tend to be the ones who having a hard time taking people off life support. There are so many cases where... They don't need to be there's never coming back zero percent chance of them ever waking up.
00:30:11
Speaker
And the family still is like, nope, keep them on. So the family getting to a point that they're like, it's time. This is her time. for whatever reason, if you believe that it was God's innovation and his plan, or if it just freak accident, whatever the case was and what you believe, if the family is now at a point, I feel like that should matter versus the family's not trying to hold on, if that makes sense.
00:30:41
Speaker
Right. ah It does. And I i feel like for the argument that it's It's like God's plan or i I feel like that's a big counter argument.
Emotional and Financial Burden on Family
00:30:55
Speaker
And I find that just, I don't understand how that's squared with full life support. Right? Because this is already so much extreme medical intervention that we're doing here.
00:31:06
Speaker
Yeah. This is someone being artificially a corpse kept alive, essentially. Yeah. The heart beating, the lungs working, like...
00:31:17
Speaker
Yeah, because again, taking like the fetus out of it completely. Like if you have a loved one in a hospital who is who you were literally told they are never going to wake up ever.
00:31:29
Speaker
They are brain dead. They're done. Like this machine is the only thing keeping them alive. it would be heartbreaking to say, okay, turn off the machine. Like I cannot even wrap my head around that. And the guilt that probably would come with that, even though it's like a guilt you shouldn't have, but I would imagine there would be some kind of guilt there.
00:31:51
Speaker
And then being told, and it's still a terrible thing to have to go through. Right. And then being told like, sorry, you don't have that option. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:05
Speaker
I get why they're angry. I think that's... But I think that that argument is made a lot in terms of abortion too, where it's like, it's already not a great circumstance that I'm in at this moment.
00:32:17
Speaker
If i need or want to have an abortion, however you want to phrase it or whatever the situation is, it's already not great. So it's like, why don't we compound this very traumatic, very upsetting thing that I'm going through?
00:32:30
Speaker
Because somehow the government knows better others. the actual human being involved. like Assuming a person is conscious, is not brain dead and able to make these decisions,
00:32:45
Speaker
That should also be considered. And then certainly if someone is unable to speak for themselves, then usually the family does that. And in this situation, her next of kin is her mother.
00:32:56
Speaker
And it's just, even if I don't know what her situation was like with her mother, but even if they were not that close, I still think the odds are pretty good that her mother knew what she would want in that situation better than The doctors she didn't know and the assistant governor, the governor, the senators, like they don't know her.
00:33:18
Speaker
They don't know the situation. They're not the ones visiting a corpse in the hospital. Her family is the one dealing with this day to day. And they also don't know what's going to happen.
00:33:30
Speaker
and even if the situation gets worse, they don't get to decide. The only thing that I do have a hard time with is them still bringing her son. I don't know if I totally agree with that.
00:33:41
Speaker
um And this is just... ah but Because like they're they're bringing this little boy to see his mom and they're telling him that she's sleeping and that's fine. But like in that situation, they're the ones confusing him.
00:33:55
Speaker
Like, an elementary school kid's not getting there by himself. So... I know, but are they are they going to leave the...
00:34:07
Speaker
The fetus in the hospital by itself all day? I'm not saying like the go. the family would still go? I'm just saying like, I think bringing a... Let's just lie the little boy. Well, she's dead, right?
00:34:18
Speaker
They don't... She's not waking back up. So having him to process But how do you explain the baby to him? The baby that realistically isn't coming home? Yeah.
00:34:32
Speaker
But like, what if he does? Or what if he even survives to make it to the NICU? Then you say... i don't I don't know. But at the same time, i just feel like this little boy is... yourre He's getting more confused.
00:34:45
Speaker
Like, trying to explain to a four-year-old that... mommy's body's here but she's not is more confusing than mommy has passed away and then trying to explain well when mommy passed away there was a fetus inside her and this is your baby brother like i feel like that's easier to grasp than he mommy's sleeping like don't that's that's lying that she's not sleeping she's dead like
00:35:16
Speaker
I don't know. That's that's where I disagree. I have a hard one. Yeah. I don't think he should be visiting either. um I don't think it's appropriate at this point.
00:35:27
Speaker
At the beginning, totally get it. Like, let your wed him process and all that. But after after a while, the get get him therapy, get him help, have him start processing it.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah. But it's so it's so hard probably for any of them to even start the grieving process because they're in this terrible limbo. Right. And you still don't want to leave her corpse just in the hospital.
00:35:52
Speaker
And it's possibly gestating a baby. So it's like you're still going to – your heart is still there. you' as an adult? your As an adult? Yes. Absolutely. would still visit. If it was me, 100%.
00:36:05
Speaker
But I'd find a babysitter. For sure. But that kid is going to be so traumatized from even just being in this situation and having the adults in his life be in this situation and have everyone be so upset and traumatized. It would already be awful if they just, if they removed her from life support in February, it would be awful.
00:36:26
Speaker
And that kid would be devastated. Oh, yeah. He lost his mom. He's going to be devastated. They would take months... He already lost her, but he hasn't had to have a funeral he hasn't gotten to have a funeral yet.
00:36:38
Speaker
There's no closure. A little boy doesn't know what – like ah a four-year-old doesn't know what that is, right? Like it's more of that – I guess. it the For the adults, I completely agree with you. because But a little kid doesn't know what a funeral is until they go to one.
00:36:54
Speaker
And even when you're little, you don't truly grasp what that is until you get a little older. I think law the younger you loss is a lot more internalized than as adults because as adults, you can grasp what's happening.
00:37:10
Speaker
And this little boy, he e he could start with that closure if he starts to learn what's going on at an age-appropriate level.
00:37:25
Speaker
Because the reality is like this this poor thing lost his mom, never getting her back. And he has to try to now process that and learn to live without her. And like the adults, absolutely, that's hard too. But they at least can, they don't need to share with this little boy that it's all these other things, right? Because I don't know if that's totally age appropriate.
00:37:54
Speaker
Or even intellectually understandable. think understand not it's It's not age appropriate. um For sure. a Although I don't know what age this becomes appropriate. Right. i Different argument. I feel like, honestly, best case scenario here is that they never have to pay any of these medical bills because they end up suing and it's all covered. And this child gets the best of the best when it comes to therapy, support, whatever he needs. Right.
00:38:27
Speaker
I just I feel like this has got to be just absolutely earth shattering for him and for everybody and the family. And I I really feel for them.
00:38:38
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, I it's terrible, but they also definitely shouldn't have to be financially devastated from it. Yeah, I would find that really hard to believe if that ends up coming to fruition.
00:38:51
Speaker
Just with, like, there are so many cases of people who don't have insurance that, like, go to the doctors and just don't pay their bills and nothing happens. So I would be very surprised.
00:39:03
Speaker
And honestly, I'd be disappointed if it if they were. But, you know, ne never say never. I'd be very disappointed. And i hope I hope with all the attention it's gotten that that is...
00:39:15
Speaker
not going to happen. But I do think if they, if the media had not been involved at all, um they would just get a huge NICU bill at the minimum. And that's still medical debt, still going mess with things. That's still a problem. You're going be like hounded by collectors and they don't need to be constantly hounded and reminded of this horrific thing that happened in their family. But I think it's going to be a lot of Complications and insurance makes everything more complicated and worse.
00:39:47
Speaker
and Let's not open the door of American insurance. We can't. We can't open that door right now. um No, not for this one. Maybe another one.
00:40:00
Speaker
But i I don't know. i It's obviously ah tough situation, but I do think The family should be allowed to mourn and this should have been resolved in February, ultimately.
Conclusion and Reflections
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah. I don't think no matter what happens, someone's going to be upset. But at the end of the day the people should who should have a little control is the family of the person who has the accident or the person involved and it's it's really unfortunate that their wishes are completely just being ignored and possibly Adriana's.
00:40:41
Speaker
So, yeah. Well, I, I know it was a dark one, but I do think it was interesting and we'll catch back next week with our next mother till the next one.