Woman, 50, dies in New York after unborn 'stone baby' created by a 'spell' remains lodged in her abdomen for nine years
10 March 2023, 08:33 | Updated: 10 March 2023, 08:36
A 50-year-old woman has died of malnutrition in New York after doctors discovered an unborn 'stone baby' had remained lodged in her abdomen for the better part of a decade.
The woman, originally from Congo, was admitted to hospital in the US where scans revealed a calcified foetus embedded in her abdomen.
Comparable in size to a lettuce, the unborn foetus is found to have compressed her intestines causing a severe bowel obstruction and subsequent malnutrition.
The woman who refused treatment, believed her ailments came as a result of witchcraft, with a "spell" having been cast on her in Africa before she was resettled in the US.
Attributing the foetus to a miscarriage some nine years previously, the child would have been the patient's ninth child.
The extremely rare phenomenon, known as a lithopedion, has been recorded less than 300 times.
An unviable pregnancy also known as an ectopic pregnancy, the death of the foetus comes about as a result of it developing the abdomen instead of the uterus.
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With the foeuts' development halting at around 24-weeks, the mass then calcified to form a stone-like mass, compressing major organs and restricting nutrient absorption.
Discovered by Dr Waseem Sous, an internal medicine expert at SUNY Upstate Medical University, he noted the patient had "declined intervention due to fear of surgery and elected for symptom monitoring."
"Unfortunately, she passed away due to severe malnutrition in the context of recurrent bowel obstruction due to the lithopedion and continued fear of seeking medical care."
The case study was revealed as part of his medical report in the journal BMC Women's Health this week.
The mother had previously moved from Congo to Burundi and then on to Tanzania where she gave birth to eight children - three of which died shortly after childbirth.
The sad tale first saw the women visit a doctor's clinic in a refugee camp after noticing her baby had stopped moving.
With doctors informing her there no heartbeat, they recommended she return in two weeks if she was unable to pass the foetus at home.
However, upon her return she was accused of 'evil work' and 'killing the baby', which led her to rush home and pray while refusing any medical help.
It wasn't until a health check six months before being resettled to the US that the issue was flagged, with a CT revealing the condition upon her arrival in the country.
