The following comes from a March 31 Life News article by Sarah Zagorski:
Researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have created the world’s first fully implantable micro-pacemaker for unborn children with congenial complete heart blocks. The medical journal, Heart Rhythm, revealed that the US Food & Drug Administration has designated the micro-pacemaker as a device for humanitarian use.
The Times of India reports that the micro-pacemaker has already been through pre-clinical testing by Children’s Hospital and the University of Southern California, and they plan to use it in the future. Gerald Loeb, a professor at the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC, said, “Building on our experience of using microfabrication techniques to create biomedical devices, we have developed a micro-pacemaker small enough to reside entirely within the fetus. This will allow the foetus to move freely without risk of dislodging the electrodes.”
Currently, every year in the United States 500 unborn children are affected by fetal heart block and could be candidates for the device.
In the past, all attempts to treat the condition with adult pacemakers have failed. However, now unborn babies with heart blockage may be able to benefit from the micro-pacemaker and get a better chance at survival. Ramen Chmait, the director of the CHLA-USC Institute for Maternal-Fetal Health said, “We now have a pacemaker that can be implanted in utero, potentially without harm to the fetus or the mom.”
This is great news. More babies will be saved. It makes me happy. This precious baby pictured here is a gift and we must do what possible to give it a good chance at life. God bless all the unborn babies!
Wonderful news! Now, we need strict laws prohibiting murder (abortion) of the unborn child !!
When my first daughter was a fetus she already had a name because we knew she was a person and that she deserved the protection of our Constitution just as much as any born person! So, why do we still say fetus rather than person when we know from science, common sense, and personal experience that she was part of the human family fsrom conception and would be born in the Marrelli family! We should be putting pressure on the Supreme Court to wash the egg off of their face and declare their Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of 1973 a total blunder that has cost more lives than any nuclear device and all our wars put together. Let’s fact the reality that we are engaged in a second civil war–Americans killing Americans! And our Supreme Court has made us worse than slavers. If the Court was a corporation it would have to pay a price for all the lives they’ve sentenced to be slaughtered! The Supreme Court has made us a nation of barbarians. Writers for Life at prolifedigest.com.
I agree Charles. Beautiful comments you made about your daughter, children are a blessing!