Baby in surrogate dispute undergoes heart surgery

A baby born with a rare and serious heart defect at the center of a multistate legal dispute between his biological parents and a surrogate underwent the first of several expected surgeries Monday, the parents’ lawyer said.

The baby, named Rumi by biological parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, was born Wednesday in Texas with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a congenital condition involving underdevelopment of the heart. The condition is rare and complex and typically requires a staged series of operations, beginning in the first weeks of life.

Lee Budner, an attorney for Ahmed and Gilkar, said Rumi’s medical team determined Friday, “after thorough examination and imaging,” that he was eligible for a Norwood procedure. Budner described it as “a complex palliative heart surgery that is the first of a series of three surgeries that are required within the first several years of life for babies born with HLHS.”

The operation was performed Monday morning, Budner said.

“Rumi is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,” Budner said in a statement.

Budner said the family does not plan to release further health updates.

“This is the last update on Rumi’s health that his family intends to share,” he said. “His condition remains critical and complex, and his family seeks privacy in caring for their son on his long road to recovery.”

The Cleveland Clinic says the second surgery for babies with HLHS is usually performed at 4 to 6 months and the third between 18 months and 5 years old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 925 babies in the United States are born with the condition each year, and NBC News reported that HLHS often requires lifelong care, with many babies developing disabilities or not surviving.

The medical crisis has unfolded alongside a legal fight involving McKenna West, the surrogate who gave birth to Rumi. West, who is from Alaska, has said she refused to terminate the pregnancy after the fetus was diagnosed with HLHS in utero. She has alleged that Ahmed and Gilkar repeatedly pressured her to have an abortion.

A response filed by the couple’s attorney in Alaska alleges West was “clear and knowing in her intention to abide by” the parents’ request for a termination if tests revealed a fetal abnormality. In a court filing, the biological parents said they respected West’s refusal to proceed with an abortion. They have denied that they ever intended to refuse care for the baby and said they had made plans for treatment in California.

Before Rumi was born, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the case and sought a state court order requiring doctors to provide surgery and lifesaving medical care. Paxton alleged the biological parents might refuse such care, an allegation they denied. The parents’ attorney accused Paxton of turning their tragedy into “political theater.”

Paxton secured a court order requiring lifesaving medical care after birth. The court also ruled that Ahmed and Gilkar are responsible for medical decisions within the requirements of the order. As a result, West was not allowed contact with the baby after his birth, her attorney, Lincoln Davis Wilson, told CBS News last week.

Wilson said West intended to continue efforts to gain custody of the child, whom she had been calling Gabriel. “We are working on challenging those orders of parentage because we think that Texas law makes a woman who gives birth [to] a child, the mother of the child,” he said.

Budner said Monday that West “continues to assert baseless claims for custody of Rumi, in violation of multiple courts orders out of both Alaska and California.”

“We look forward to quickly defeating those claims as Rumi’s parents continue to focus on his health and safety above all else,” he said.