A mother died of severe malnutrition after carrying an unborn fetus in her body for about nine years.
The Congolese woman visited doctors in New York complaining of stomach cramps, indigestion and a gurgling sound after meals.
Scans showed the 50-year-old had a “rock baby” – a calcified fetus – compressing her intestines, which was traced to a miscarriage nine years earlier.
The rare phenomenon, which has been recorded just under 300 times, occurs when a fetus developing outside the womb dies during pregnancy and is not released from the body.
The patient refused treatment and said she believed her condition was related to a “magic” cast on her by someone in Africa.
The woman, whose name has not been released, carried the fetus for nine years. After moving to the United States, the mother was offered surgery, which she declined. She eventually died of malnutrition caused by the fetus blocking her small intestine
Above is a scan of the mother’s calcified fetus. She died of severe malnutrition 14 months after entering the United States
The woman died 14 months after arriving in the United States.
Doctors said she died of severe malnutrition or starvation.
In these cases, death can eventually be caused by tissue destruction, which can lead to cardiac arrest or arrhythmias, an irregular heartbeat. Other causes include an infection caused by a weakened immune system.
In this woman, the “stone baby” continued to compress the intestines. This caused blockages, meaning her body could not absorb vital nutrients, leading to starvation.
Dr. Waseem Sous, an internal medicine expert at SUNY Upstate Medical University who reported the case, said the patient “declined intervention for fear of surgery and opted for symptom monitoring.”
“Unfortunately, she passed away due to severe malnutrition as part of a recurrent bowel obstruction from lithopathy and continued fear of seeing a doctor.”
The twin fetus is surgically removed from the SKULL of the one-year-old sister
Doctors said the fetus had developed upper limbs, legs and even fingernails, meaning it had likely continued to grow in the womb for months.
The fetus – which would have been the woman’s ninth child – stopped developing inside her after 28 weeks.
But instead of having a miscarriage, she suffered from the condition known as Lithopedia.
The condition occurs when a pregnancy forms in the abdomen rather than the uterus.
This is an ectopic pregnancy, a term for any pregnancy where the embryo begins to form in the wrong part of the body.
In lithopedia, the baby does not reach enough blood supply, which leads to pregnancy failure.
The body is also unable to expel the fetus, which can lead to potentially fatal complications.
The condition has only been recorded 290 times, the first of which dates from France in 1582.
Some mothers report severe symptoms as a result, while others may live for decades without showing any signs of the condition.
The sad story was revealed this week in a medical report in the journal BMC Women’s Health.
In her early life, the mother was uprooted twice due to conflict, having moved from the Congo to Burundi and then to Tanzania.
She settled in Tanzania and had eight children born naturally. Three died shortly after birth.
During her ninth pregnancy, she visited a doctor’s office in a refugee camp after noticing that her baby was not moving.
The medics there told her the baby had no heartbeat and advised her to let it pass naturally at home and if it didn’t work to come back in two weeks.
She followed instructions, but when she returned to the clinic, she was greeted outside by people who accused her of “malicious work” and “killing the baby”.
This led the mother to rush home and pray before deciding not to see a doctor.
She then carried the dead fetus for nine years and had no medical contact until her health examination six months before moving to the United States.
When the mother arrived in the US, she was taken for CT scans, which showed an obstruction in her small intestine and compression of the great arteries.
It also showed a mass in the abdomen about six inches by eight inches containing a skeleton.
Doctors offered her an operation to remove the mass, but she declined, saying the condition was due to a curse placed on her by someone in Tanzania.
She added to the doctors, “I’ll let you know when I’m ready; I am not afraid of death.’
Doctors eventually convinced her to take antibiotics for her stomach inflammation and pills to lower her blood pressure.
But she continued to refuse surgery. On another date, she said, “I just don’t feel like it.”
She died of malnutrition about 14 months after arriving in the United States.
Doctors could not say where in the body the pregnancy occurred, but they concluded that it was probably outside the womb.
She suffered from lithopathy, which can occur when a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, or a pregnancy in which the fetus develops outside the womb.
When the baby dies, it is too big for the body to take back.
As a result, the immune system determines that the dead fetus poses a threat and launches an attack.
It deposits calcium-rich deposits on the fetus, gradually encasing it in a calcified shell, or fossilizing it.
Fetuses in this condition can be carried in the body for up to 60 years, according to medical literature. They may cause no symptoms and some women may not even realize they are there.
In another example, a woman in Colombia carried a dead fetus for 40 years.
The 82-year-old initially thought she was suffering from gastrointestinal flu. But scans showed the presence of the calcified fetus.
She then underwent surgery to remove the dead fetus from her body.
Dr. Kemer Ramirez of the Tunjuelito Hospital in Bogota said at the time: “This happens because the fetus does not develop in the womb because it has moved to another place.
“In this case, the woman’s abdominal area is not a viable (place) and that’s what happened, a calcified fetus, because the body creates defense mechanisms and calcifies it until it gets trapped there.”
A separate case was recorded in 2015 when an elderly woman in Chile was found to have a 50-year-old fetus still inside her.
The woman, who was at least 90 years old, was taken to San Antonio City Hospital after a fall.
But X-rays showed she was also carrying a fetus weighing around 2kg.
Doctors described the fetus as “large and developed, occupying the entire abdominal cavity.”
It was not surgically removed because doctors felt it was too risky given the woman’s age.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
