AI Generated Image
Baby with heart defect at center of surrogate dispute receives first surgery, parents' lawyer says
CBS News • • nation
Key Points:
- A baby named Rumi, born in Texas with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), underwent the first of three required surgeries, the Norwood procedure, according to the parents' lawyer.
- Rumi's parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, had requested the surrogate, McKenna West, to have an abortion after learning of the heart defect, but West refused and traveled to Texas to give birth.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened, securing a court order mandating lifesaving medical care for Rumi and granting medical decision authority to the parents, while restricting West's contact with the child.
- West's attorney is challenging the court orders, asserting that under Texas law the birth mother is the legal mother, and is seeking custody, but the parents' lawyer calls these claims baseless and intends to defend their custody rights.
- Rumi's condition remains critical, and the family requests privacy as they focus on his ongoing medical care and recovery.
