What may happen if a pregnant woman gets an electric shock? Even if she and her child survive, what consequences may they face? About 5 decades ago, one of my aunts got an electric shock while pregnant. In our country we have 220V in our household outlets. That child is mentally retarded. Our family members think that it happened due to the electrocution. My aunt's other offspring are normal and healthy. I wonder, was the shock alone responsible? What can be some effects in such cases apart from death?

 

What can be some effects in such cases apart from death?

Death is the result. We don't use the word "electrocute" if we meant to say "received an electric shock".
I am not a medical expert but there are too many variables in the situation to be able to arrive at a conclusive conclusion.
What we do know is that the layers of the body itself present some level of protection to the foetus from external electric currents.

 

It's amazing the facts you can find out with a Google search. . . the conductivity of amniotic fluid is about 1.2S/m.
I'd say that the foetus was pretty much equipotentially bonded!

 

Can an electric shock during pregnancy cause mental retardation in an unborn fetus? I have no idea and this question has actually come up before and my answer is simple, you need to ask an OBGYN or simply put a real doctor. Additionally, you make no mention of the severity of the electrical shock? Next would be exactly where was the shock on the mother?

Ron

 

The resulting effect on the unborn child would depend greatly on how long the person was dead before the child was delivered. (Probably this post is in poor taste.)

 

The resulting effect on the unborn child would depend greatly on how long the person was dead before the child was delivered. (Probably this post is in poor taste.)

Or, how prematurely it was delivered (presumably by Caesarean.)

 

The resulting effect on the unborn child would depend greatly on how long the person was dead before the child was delivered. (Probably this post is in poor taste.)

The poster mentioned that both she and the baby survived?

 

Of course, if the mother fell because of the shock, that could have had an effect. Given that no other facts are presented, we can only make random guesses. Possibly better than an AI program, because humans can be much more creative than AI.

 

Too many unsubstantiated factors to resolve the equation if there even was one...

 

from 18 years ago, this wasn't your aunt ?
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/pregnant-and-electric-shock.7704/

 

from 18 years ago, this wasn't your aunt ?
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/pregnant-and-electric-shock.7704/

No. I am talking about an incident that took place 5 decades ago. Both my aunt and my cousin survived. My cousin sister is still alive and mentally retarded.

 

Death is the result. We don't use the word "electrocute" if we meant to say "received an electric shock".
I am not a medical expert but there are too many variables in the situation to be able to arrive at a conclusive conclusion.
What we do know is that the layers of the body itself present some level of protection to the foetus from external electric currents.

Thank you. I edited my question. By 'electrocuted' I meant injured, not dead. Sorry if the word was misleading.

 

No. I am talking about an incident that took place 5 decades ago. Both my aunt and my cousin survived. My cousin sister is still alive and mentally retarded.

Describe how severely your aunt was shocked and give details on the path the electricity went through the body and how many months pregnant she was at the time. The path is the most important factor.

Whether the shock was a factor in the mental retardation would be difficult to prove.

Sorry for my bad English.

I had to look up the definition of electrocution. I thought electrocution implied death, but the definition also includes severe injury. So, saying electrocution is okay, but shock is more understandable.

 

Whether the shock was a factor in the mental retardation would be difficult to prove

Difficult to prove or disprove, I think. Personally I think the chance of injury is slight, but possible.
That is why guidance for behaviour during pregnancy is to avoid all risks - there are many unknown paths to fetal damage.

 

No. I am talking about an incident that took place 5 decades ago. Both my aunt and my cousin survived. My cousin sister is still alive and mentally retarded.

did you look through the discusion there though ?
I thought some very relevant points covered.

bottom line for you though,
its unlikely to have caused problems, the fetal sack is very good conductor compared to the fetus, so all but a Faraday shield,
its impossible to prove at this stage
none of us are allowed to give a legal opinion on such matters,

so dont quite know what your expectations off this public forummis

 

Describe how severely your aunt was shocked and give details on the path the electricity went through the body and how many months pregnant she was at the time. The path is the most important factor.

Whether the shock was a factor in the mental retardation would be difficult to prove.
I had to look up the definition of electrocution. I thought electrocution implied death, but the definition also includes severe injury. So, saying electrocution is okay, but shock is more understandable.

As far as I know came to know from my family, she was at an advanced stage of pregnancy. Probably at her 3rd trimester. She was doing some household chores. The supply was 220V. She fell down as soon as she received the shock.

 

did you look through the discusion there though ?
I thought some very relevant points covered.

bottom line for you though,
its unlikely to have caused problems, the fetal sack is very good conductor compared to the fetus, so all but a Faraday shield,
its impossible to prove at this stage
none of us are allowed to give a legal opinion on such matters,

so dont quite know what your expectations off this public forummis

I have just checked. Thank you so much.

 

What may happen if a pregnant woman gets an electric shock? Even if she and her child survive, what consequences may they face? About 5 decades ago, one of my aunts got an electric shock while pregnant. In our country we have 220V in our household outlets. That child is mentally retarded. Our family members think that it happened due to the electrocution. My aunt's other offspring are normal and healthy. I wonder, was the shock alone responsible? What can be some effects in such cases apart from death?

Upon what do your family members based their thinking?

There is a natural tendency for people to grasp at straws and latch onto just about anything in order to explain things they don't know anything about. Many people carry this to extremes and quickly convince themselves that they absolutely know the cause, despite having absolutely no basis for their claims. I would say that there is a 99+% chance that your cousin would have been mentally retarded even if her mother hadn't received a shock. The fact that her siblings are normal and healthy in no way supports the position that something must have happened during pregnancy with the one. Most families that have a child with an intellectual disability only have one such child, regardless of how many children they have. This is true even of genetic causes. I have a cousin with severe Down syndrome, yet his five brothers and sisters are all perfectly normal.

From a more pragmatic standpoint, what difference does it make? What happened half a century ago happened. Your cousin is who she is. How would knowing whether the shock had anything to do with it, one way or the other, change anything. Would it change the situation, either for her or for anyone else? Would the advice for pregnant women really be any different? Or would the advice still be the same as for everyone -- avoid electric shocks. It would be different if we were talking about intentional electric shocks (such as TENS treatments).

 

What may happen if a pregnant woman gets an electric shock? Even if she and her child survive, what consequences may they face? About 5 decades ago, one of my aunts got an electric shock while pregnant. In our country we have 220V in our household outlets. That child is mentally retarded. Our family members think that it happened due to the electrocution. My aunt's other offspring are normal and healthy. I wonder, was the shock alone responsible? What can be some effects in such cases apart from death?

Hi,

She and the fetus would have had to be examined right after the shock. Waiting 50 years probably won't show anything but I guess we never know until an exam is performed.

The most important fact is what was the path of the current. If it went through the fetus then there is a good chance it would do something somewhat serious because a fetus and even a baby are very sensitive to stimuli more so than an adult. Still in early development, if anything hampers that it could have profound effects later in life.
If it was a very strong shock then of course the effect would be greater, but the path of the current still matters a lot. You might ask her if she remembers.

Because the child turned out to be retarded, there is a good chance that the shock had something to do with it. To frame this in a better perspective though using a purely statistical view, if she had 3 kids that were fine and 1 not fine, then there is a 25 percent chance that the electric shock had an effect. If she had 2 kids that were fine and 1 not, then there's a 33 percent chance the shock had an effect. That's without having ANY other information.
After reading a medical journal, there are documented cases where the child turned out to be retarded. There were also cases of spontaneous abortion.

One other thing you can ask about is what two or more parts of the body were involved in the shock event. Was it two hands or one hand and one foot, etc. One hand and one foot would be worse because there is a good chance it went through the abdomen.

Because it was so long ago though, it's probably impossible to tell for sure. That's because the right thing for a mother to do after a shock is to get the fetus checked immediately. Without that, it is really impossible. It probably won't matter now though even to a compilation of medical reports because we have no medical exam to help confirm or disprove the effect.

Also we haven't yet talked about the Faraday cage aspect. Maybe she has a Faraday womb
This is actually something to think about. The amniotic fluid is like water with electrolytes, so it is conductive and surrounds the fetus, but the fetus is somewhat conductive too so it's hard to judge what path the current would take.

If I had to guess though, since there were children with no problems and only that one, it is likely that there was an effect. It won't help any now though to know that or not know that. It will just be a curiosity.

Finally, try reading some medical journals see what you can find.