Mumbai: Bombay High Court on Tuesday permitted medical termination of the over-25-week pregnancy of a Stage 4 cancer patient (14), a sexual assault survivor, to enable her treatment to start.Justices Bharati Dangre and Ashish Chavan considered J J Hospital board’s report which “specifically expressed that it is necessary to terminate the pregnancy as it poses risk to the mother’s life apart from the fact that unless and until the same is terminated, the curative treatment for cancer cannot be started.”The girl, from West Bengal, was suffering from swelling and pain in her left thigh. On July 1, an MRI suspected a malignant bone tumour of the left femur. A biopsy suggested a form of bone and soft-tissue cancer. On Sept 8, she was brought to Mumbai for treatment at Tata Hospital. A Sept 18 scan for staging the tumour revealed her pregnancy. Due to dengue and leptospirosis, she was referred to KEM Hospital.The girl’s petition, filed through her mother, sought permission to terminate the 23-week pregnancy. As she fell within categories permitted for MTP between 20 and 24 weeks, HC on Sept 30 directed KEM to explore MTP. On Oct 1, KEM said due to her fever spikes, MTP can be done after her condition stabilises. On Oct 7, HC directed the J J board to examine her.Its report, submitted by the state’s advocate Jyoti Chavan, said the girl is 25.4 weeks pregnant with no foetal anomaly. The malignant tumour is suggestive of Ewing Sarcoma which has spread to both lungs. “This is Stage IV (metastatic) disease. The treatment… requires intensive chemotherapy with multiple drugs along with surgery and radiotherapy,” it stated.As the minor is still in J J Hospital, the judges directed it “to proceed ahead with termination, subject to her other parameters being examined and best left to the determination by medical experts.”
