Texas court hears dispute between California couple and surrogate over newborn with heart defect

A Texas courtroom heard the latest arguments in a custody dispute involving a California couple and their surrogate, who delivered a newborn on Aug. 12 with a severe congenital heart defect. The couple, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, say the infant, named Rumi, is in critical condition and require ongoing medical care. They seek to retain parental rights and have a restraining order that bars the surrogate, McKenna West, from seeing the child.

West, a nurse who traveled from Alaska for the surrogacy, argues that she should be granted sole conservatorship to make medical decisions, citing the couple’s earlier request that she terminate the pregnancy after learning of the diagnosis. She testified that she believed the baby had a good chance of survival despite the condition.

The infant has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare defect affecting fewer than 1,000 newborns annually in the United States, which can be fatal without surgical intervention. Court documents indicate the child has experienced complications, including limited blood flow to the left side of the heart, respiratory distress, and the need for blood transfusions.

West’s attorney, Lee Budner, asserted that the surrogate should be recognized as the child’s mother and that the couple’s prior desire to end the pregnancy raises questions about their commitment to the child’s medical care. The couple’s lawyer referenced a California court ruling that denied West any legal or physical custody rights, but West asked the Texas judge to disregard that decision.

The judge did not issue a final ruling on custody or conservatorship during the hearing, and the existing restraining order remains in effect. Surrogacy agreements are not regulated at the federal level, and state laws vary, creating legal ambiguities in cases such as this.