1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to you today because of what is being done to the body of Adriana Smith. I know she isn't one of your constituents however someone in a position of authority has to do something. What is being done to Adriana's body is nothing short of inhumane. I say this as someone who takes care of ICU patients on life support for a living. Life support is a stopgap measure, often to buy time for medical professionals to figure out what is wrong and fix it if we can. As someone who works in an ICU, what the government is doing in Georgia is incredibly heinous. I have had to keep people "alive" on ventilators well past the hope of any recovery because the next of kin isn't ready to let go yet. It breaks my heart every time but eventually the next of kin realizes and lets go within weeks, or the patient's body cannot take the strain, and gives out. Often after a couple weeks on "life support" patients are unrecognizable as the person who came in. And that's for people who haven't experienced Brain Death. Brain Death means that the person is neurologically dead, none of their normal functions that the brain regulates i.e. breathing, cough/gag reflexes, maintaining a core body temperature, the ability to feel pain, even producing hormones to regulate other organs is off the table. Adriana Smith is neurologically dead. Her body is being pumped full of dozens of medications and supplemental hormones so that the Governing Body of Georgia can run an experiment on a black woman, who is only a few years younger than I am, who was also a nurse. She is dead and they feel they have rights over her corpse because she was pregnant at the time she had a catastrophic life ending medical emergency. The pregnancy was nowhere near viable at 9 weeks. They've kept her body "functioning" (I use this term for lack of a better one) for 3 additional months, and plan to for another 2 months at minimum so they can get the fetus to 32 weeks. Not only are they running a Josef Mengele level experiment on a black woman, they are also experimenting on the child they are claiming to be trying to save. This baby will not be born healthy it's almost guaranteed. It has been indicated that the fetus has hydrocephalus, which means there is fluid built up inside the skull restricting brain growth which can lead to developmental delays and neurologic complications or even death. They are using Adriana Smith as a piece of disposable medical equipment since they will have no use for her body after the fetus is out of it. Her family has asked for her to be removed from this inhumane circumstance, the only reason her body hasn't already stopped functioning already is because she was so young when she died. We have laws against the torture of another human being and laws against desecration of a corpse in this country, why are those laws not being followed? Someone in a position of authority has to speak out against this. Will it be you?