# Texas court lets baby leave state with biological parents

> A Texas Supreme Court ruling clears the way for a medically fragile infant born to a surrogate to be transferred to California for specialized care.
- Title: Texas court lets baby leave state with biological parents
- Summary: A Texas Supreme Court ruling clears the way for a medically fragile infant born to a surrogate to be transferred to California for specialized care. When a…
- Keywords: texas supreme court, surrogacy, custody dispute, mckenna west, nausheen gilkar, omar ahmed, medical transfer, california, alaska, infant care, icu transfer, news
- Source: The Texas Tribune — https://feeds.texastribune.org/link/16799/17466473/texas-surrogacy-california-alaska-mckenna-west-rumi-gabriel
- Author: Terri Langford
- Published: 2026-09-18T23:23:57+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: texas supreme court, surrogacy, custody dispute, mckenna west, nausheen gilkar, omar ahmed, medical transfer, california, alaska, infant care, icu transfer, news
## Surrogate tried to block baby's move
McKenna West, an Alaskan surrogate, attempted to prevent the biological parents from taking the 1-month-old infant out of Texas to California.
## Court sided with biological parents
The Texas Supreme Court rejected West's request and ruled in favor of parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, who live in California.
## Child's survival was the priority
The court emphasized that preserving the medically fragile infant's life was the paramount concern in this time-sensitive case.

> Sustaining the life of the medically fragile child is the paramount concern in this time-sensitive matter.
## Doctor recommended ICU-to-ICU transfer
The child's Texas physician provided uncontroverted medical testimony that an ICU-to-ICU transfer to Los Angeles was in the infant's best interest to preserve his life.

> the child's best interest in order to preserve the child's life as long as possible [i]s an ICU-to-ICU transfer.
## Baby can now travel to California
The ruling cleared the way for the biological parents to take the 1-month-old infant from Texas to a hospital in Los Angeles where the family lives.
## Key takeaway

When a child's medical needs conflict with custody claims, courts prioritize the child's health and survival.