Family of brain-dead mom, Adriana Smith, inspires Georgia bill to protect pregnant patients
Family of brain-dead mom, Adriana Smith, inspires Georgia bill to protect pregnant patients
BET*; by Jasmine Browley; 7/7/25
During a memorial to Adriana Smith, state Rep. Park Cannon unveiled new legislation aimed at giving patients and their families more control over Georgia's severe abortion law. ... Smith's case received global attention due to its unique and contentious circumstances. On February 9, Smith began complaining about headaches. The young nurse and her mother sought assistance at two separate hospitals before being discharged with medicine but no CT scan. A week later, Smith was discovered unresponsive at home, and on February 19, she was formally pronounced brain-dead and placed on life support. Her mother, April Newkirk, told WXIA that doctors at Emory Hospital claimed they couldn't legally examine any additional choices. ... In June, a few days after doctors performed an emergency cesarean surgery to prematurely deliver her baby, the young mother of two was taken off life support. ... Smith's son Chance, born at six months, weighed only one pound and thirteen ounces. ... Cannon's proposed new law would have returned control of Smith's end-of-life care to her family, who were not consulted before physicians put her on life support to save her six-week-old fetus. ... Adriana's Law would take precedence over Georgia's LIFE ACT, ...
Editor's Note: See previous stories we posted regarding this case ...