There was a 'possibility' Prudente baby could live, doctor tells court

Andrea Prudente was never in danger of dying and there was a "possibility" that the foetus she was carrying could live, the head of obstetrics and gynecology at Mater Dei told a court on Friday. 

Details about the medical condition of the expectant mother who experienced symptoms of miscarriage during her trip to Malta last June, emerged in court when medical specialists who were both directly and indirectly involved in the case, were summoned to the witness stand.

They were testifying in constitutional proceedings before the First Hall, Civil Court where the US woman is claiming that her fundamental rights were breached when doctors in Malta refused to terminate her pregnancy at 16 weeks. 

She was eventually medically evacuated to Spain, where her pregnancy was terminated. The case has since sparked proposed changes to Malta's strict anti-abortion law.

Developments in the field over the past two decades or so meant that today there was a 79.2% survival rate of the unborn baby when the mother’s waters ruptured before 20 weeks pregnancy, said Yves Muscat Baron, consultant head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Mater Dei Hospital. 

In this case, Prudente had a urinary...