London - British doctors have delivered a baby girl two days after the mother collapsed and died from a brain haemorrhage, a hospital in Oxford confirmed Tuesday. Jayne Soliman's heart was kept beating until baby Aya Jayne was born by Caesarian section 25 weeks prematurely on Friday at Oxford's John Radcliffe hospital.
Soliman, who was 41, was a professional ice skater who in 1989 was both British champion and number seven in the world for professional free skating.
Doctors said she had suffered a brain haemorrhage caused by an aggressive tumour which had struck a major blood vessel.
She was given large doses of steroids to help the child's lungs develop and within 48 hours gave birth to the baby.
Although exceedingly rare, this is not the first time a baby has been kept alive in the womb of a dead mother.
In 1999, a boy was born at Cabuenes hospital in Gijon, northern Spain, on New Year's Eve to a mother who had been clinically dead since mid-November.
