At the Riuniti hospital in Bergamo, Italy, a 40-year-old woman said to be in a vegetative state for the past four months following a brain haemorrhage in January, gave birth to a baby girl. The baby, named Gaia, was born by caesarean at 34 weeks. She weighs 2 kilos and is in good health.

In January 2010, the husband and doctors decided not to have the baby born prematurely but to wait till the term of the pregnancy. The doctors monitored the mother and the foetus. The foetus developed normally until birth.

The Italian press reported widely on this "miracle baby", evidence of the "triumph of life", and the doctors' actions in this case who "wrote an invaluable page in ethical and human history which will serve to show the wonderful meaning of motherhood".