As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, "What happened?"
"The child reached out," I said.
"Oh. They do that all the time," she responded.1
What actually happened, as described in news reports of the surgery, was that:
[J]ust as surgeon Dr. Joseph Bruner was closing the incision in Julie Armas' uterus, Samuel's thumbnail-sized hand flopped out. Bruner lifted it gently and tucked it back in.2
(The dubious veracity of the photographer's version of events is highlighted by his appended disclaimer stating that it represents his "opinion of the events as they took place during the surgery for Samuel.")
Dr. Bruner later elaborated on some of the exaggerated and false claims made about this picture:
"It has become an urban legend," says Bruner, the Vanderbilt University surgeon who fixed the spina bifida lesion on Samuel. Many people he hears from wonder whether it's a fake.
"One person said the photo had been reviewed by a team of medical experts and they had determined that it was a hoax," Bruner says with a laugh.
More commonly, people want to know how the photo came to be.
Some opponents of abortion have claimed that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand.
Not true, Bruner says.
Samuel and his mother, Julie, were under anesthesia and could not move.
"The baby did not reach out," Bruner says. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on."3
Last updated: 7 May 2003
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Urban Legends Reference Pages � 1995-2005
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission
References: Sources:
Davis, Robert. "Spinal Surgery in Womb Tests Faith, Technology."
USA Today. 13 December 1999 (p. D7).
Davis, Robert and Michelle Healy. "Baby in Gripping Photo Born Healthy on Dec. 2."
USA Today. 13 December 1999 (p. D7).
3. Davis, Robert. "Hand of a Fetus Touched the World."
USA Today. 2 May 2000 (p. D8).
1. Higa, Keith K. "The 'Hand of Hope'."
Breaking the Chain.
http://www.lava.net/~higak/chain/other/babysamuel.htm 2. Lore, Diane. "Samuel A. Armas: Reached Out from Womb."
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. 31 December 2000 (p. A1).
The Irish Independent. "Holding Hands."
31 October 1999.
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