The newborn boy at the heart of a widening surrogacy dispute is now in critical condition following complicated heart surgery, according to a new report.
Court documents obtained by TMZ say the infant, whom his biological parents have named Rumi, has struggled after undergoing open-heart surgery known as the Norwood Procedure.
The baby was delivered by McKenna West, an Alaska surrogate, on August 12 in Dallas, Texas. Before his birth, doctors diagnosed him with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe and potentially life-threatening congenital heart defect.
The condition can prove fatal within days or weeks if left untreated. For newborns born with this type of heart defect, the Norwood Procedure is typically performed soon after delivery as an urgent intervention.
In the past 24 hours, the child’s biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, said his condition has sharply worsened.
‘Serious medical developments have arisen that impact the health and safety of the child. The child is in critical condition and being closely monitored at the hospital,’ the court records said.
According to the report, the parents said the infant appeared to be ‘suffering from potential complications from the Norwood, and last night, the child’s condition declined significantly, requiring re-intubation.’
The alarming medical update comes as the California couple is expected in court Tuesday, where they are seeking a restraining order against West amid the ongoing surrogacy controversy.
The newborn baby in the center of the ongoing surrogacy controversy is in critical condition after undergoing complex heart surgery, according to a new report. (Pictured: McKenna West, the surrogate who carried the child)
They were granted custody of their child, but West has also filed for custody after the parents told her to terminate the pregnancy following the baby’s diagnosis.
Because of the baby’s health update, Nausheen and Omar have asked the court to push the hearing on the restraining order, the outlet reported.
The latest update comes just days after the couple filed a lawsuit against West over her ‘malicious, outrageous conduct,’ the outlet previously reported.
The suit, which was filed against West weeks before she gave birth to the child, has asked a judge to award Nausheen and Omar over $100,000 in damages from West for breaching the contract she signed with them.
When West agreed to carry the child, whom she named ‘Baby Gabriel,’ she signed a contract that had a clause specifying that she would have to abort the baby in the event of an ‘anomaly.’
MORE STORY: Artist Narrowly Escapes House Fire After Dismissing Lightning Strike
So when the child was diagnosed with the condition at her 20-week scan, the biological parents demanded that she have an abortion – but West refused, packed her bags, and traveled to Texas to protect the child under state law.
After the baby’s birth, he was placed in Nausheen and Omar’s custody. The couple has since said they will get the medical care the child needs.
His health update comes as the couple from California are set to attend a court hearing on Tuesday to request a restraining order against West (pictured)
After West went public with her surrogacy saga, the story was immediately thrust into the spotlight across the country.
In an op-ed she penned for the New York Post last week, West claimed that the infant was snatched from her as soon as his umbilical cord was cut.
‘I haven’t been allowed to hold this precious baby boy I carried and protected throughout my pregnancy,’ she wrote.
‘The only glimpse I got of him was during a very short 60 seconds while his umbilical cord was still connected. As soon as the cord was cut, he was taken away.’
Following their lawsuit, West has claimed that ‘no threat or amount of money could sway my conviction that this baby had a real chance at a full life.’
West, citing her background as a cardiac nurse, claimed in her op-ed that she knew the infant’s heart could be repaired if he underwent a series of surgeries shortly after birth.
She claims the couple refused and ‘ordered me to terminate the pregnancy.’
But she says she ‘could not participate in killing him’ and wanted the biological parents to ‘commit to giving this baby lifesaving treatment.’
West says she paid for the remainder of the pregnancy herself and, after extensive research, found a hospital in Texas that had a ‘100% survival rate’ for the procedure that the child would need.
The biological parents state that they have paid her $60,000 to carry the child.
