Lina Medina

Lina Marcela Medina de Jurado (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlina meˈðina]; born 23 September 1933) is a Peruvian woman who became the youngest confirmed mother in history when she gave birth on 14 May 1939, aged five years, seven months, and 21 days. Based on the medical assessments of her pregnancy, she was less than five years old when she became pregnant, which was possibly due to precocious puberty.

Early life and development

Lina Medina was born in 1933 in Ticrapo, Castrovirreyna Province, Peru, to parents Tiburelo Medina, a silversmith, and Victoria Losea. She was one of nine children.

Her parents took her to a hospital in Pisco at age five due to increasing abdominal size. Doctors originally thought she had a tumor but then determined that she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Dr Gerardo Lozada had specialists in Lima confirm the pregnancy.

There was widespread interest in the case. The San Antonio Light newspaper in Texas reported in its 16 July 1939 edition that a Peruvian obstetrician and midwife association had demanded she be admitted to a national maternity hospital, and quoted reports in the Peruvian paper La Crónica that an American film studio had sent a representative "with authority to offer the sum of $5,000 to benefit the minor" in return for filming rights, but "we know that the offer was rejected". The article noted that Lozada had made films of Medina for scientific documentation and had shown them while addressing Peru's National Academy of Medicine. Some of the films had fallen into a river on a visit to the girl's hometown, but enough remained to "intrigue the learned savants".

Six weeks after the diagnosis, on 14 May 1939, Medina gave birth to a boy by caesarean section. She was 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days old, the youngest person in history to give birth. The caesarean birth was necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Lozada and Dr Busalleu, with Dr Colareta providing anaesthesia. The doctors found she had fully mature sexual organs from precocious puberty. Dr. Edmundo Escomel reported her case in the medical journal La Presse Médicale, including that her menarche had occurred at eight months of age, in contrast to previous reports that she had had regular periods since the age of three or two and a half.

Medina's son weighed 2.7 kg (6.0 lb; 0.43 st) at birth and was named Gerardo after her doctor. He was raised believing Medina to be his sister before finding out at age 10 that she was his mother. After initially remaining with the family, Lozada was allowed to take custody of the son at Lozada's home in Lima. Subsequently, he employed Lina at his clinic in Lima (where she also resided), though Lina was only able to see her son occasionally. Her son grew up healthy, but died in 1979 at the age of 40 from bone marrow disease.

Identity of the father

According to Peruvian law, the mere fact of Medina's pregnancy meant that she had been raped at some point before her fifth birthday. Medina has never revealed the identity of the father nor the circumstances of her impregnation. Escomel suggests that she might not know herself, as she "couldn't give precise responses". Lina's father was arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse but released due to lack of evidence.

Later life

In young adulthood, Medina worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Lozada, which gave her an education and helped put her son through high school. She married and had a second son in 1972. In 2002, she refused an interview with Reuters, just as she had turned away many reporters in years past.

Documentation

Although it was speculated that the case was a hoax, a number of doctors over the years have verified it based on biopsies, X rays of the fetal skeleton in utero, and photographs taken by the doctors caring for her.

There are two published photographs documenting the case. The first was taken around the beginning of April 1939, when Medina was seven and a half months into pregnancy. Taken from her left side, it shows her standing naked in front of a neutral backdrop. It is the only published photograph taken during her pregnancy. Hers is a rare, well-documented case of extreme precocious pregnancy in a child under six.

See also

• Erramatti Mangamma

Citations

Sources

• Escomel, Edmundo (13 May 1939). "La Plus Jeune Mère du Monde". La Presse Médicale. 47 (38): 744.
• Escomel, Edmundo (31 May 1939). "La Plus Jeune Mère du Monde". La Presse Médicale. 47 (43): 875.
• Escomel, Edmundo (19 December 1939). "L'ovaire de Lina Medina, la Plus Jeune Mère du Monde". La Presse Médicale. 47 (94): 1648.
• "Five-and-Half-Year-old Mother and Baby Reported Doing Well". Los Angeles Times: 2. 16 May 1939.
• "Physician Upholds Birth Possibility". Los Angeles Times: 2. 16 May 1939.
• "American Surgeon Backs Up Story of Girl-Mother". Imperial Valley Press. p. 8 col 4. 18 May 1939.
• "Indian Girl, 5, Becomes Mother; Both Resting Well". The Skyland Post (West Jefferson, N.C.). p. 5 col 5. 19 May 1939.
• "U.S. Health Official Returns from Peru". The New York Times: 9. 15 November 1939.
• "Mother, 5, to Visit Here". The New York Times: 21. 8 August 1940.
• "Wife of Peruvian Envoy Arrives to Join Him Here". The New York Times: 8. 29 July 1941.
• "The Mother Peru Forgot". The Hamilton Spectator. Spectator Wire Services: B4. 23 August 2002.