Mum in 22-week coma gives birth

In a world first, doctors in Germany have delivered a healthy baby boy to a 40-year-old woman who had been in a coma for the last 22 weeks of her pregnancy.

Matthias Beckmann, director of the University Clinic in Erlangen, said: "Given the mother's age ... and the completely normal state of the child, this case is extraordinary in the scientific world and very pleasing".

The baby is now 18-months-old. Beckmann told Reuters the hospital wanted to keep the case secret for as long as possible to demonstrate it was not experimenting on people and to make sure the child remained healthy.

Only about 25 cases of brain death or coma during pregnancy have been made public since the 1970s and they tend to end in miscarriages or deformed babies.

Doctors said they had "almost no hope" for the mother, who suffered huge heart and brain damage after a heart attack left her comatose.

The child is now in a home after his father decided he was unable to care for him as he had to travel often for his job.

- NZ HERALD STAFF