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totallygeeked -> totallygeeked general -> Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
Post Info TOPIC: Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
Lady Gaga Snerd


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Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
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'She is still alive and just as beautiful as ever': Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years later
Jahi McMath, now 15, was left with brain damage after having her tonsils removed
Doctors agreed she was brain dead and applied to turn off life support
But her family refused to accept prognosis and believed she could recover
Family are currently 'wholly responsible' for Jahi's care including expenses
The family moved to New Jersey and continue to fight against the removal of her life support
In March, they filed a malpractice lawsuit against the hospi


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3290436/She-alive-just-beautiful-Family-Jahi-McMath-declared-brain-dead-doctors-life-support-two-years-celebrate-15th-birthday.html#ixzz3piem7jeO
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The family of an Oakland teenager who was declared brain dead after suffering complications from sleep apnea surgery has shared an update saying, 'as you can see she is still alive and just as beautiful as ever.'

It has been almost two years since Jahi McMath was undergoing routine surgery, and was placed on life support.

Aged 13 at the time, the family celebrated her 15th birthday around her bedside with a series of pictures posted onto her Facebook page.

Jahi's mother says she has been able to keep her daughter's organs functioning since her operation went awry at an Oakland hospital, where she was determined to be brain dead.

Her case attracted national attention when doctors fought her family in court in a bid to remove her life support.

The family's attorney, Chris Dolan, argued in court papers filed in 2014 that the teenager was no longer brain dead and showed significant signs of life.

They maintain she is still alive despite medical opinion to the country.

In an update recently posted to Facebook, the family shared photos of the girl with the following message.



'Our little sleeping beauty is doing great and progressing. She is moving more on her mothers command.

Scroll down for video



The Facebook page, Keep Jahi McMath on Life Support shared an update claiming the teenager's skin is clear and shows no signs of the deterioration that doctors warned would happen


The Facebook page, Keep Jahi McMath on Life Support shared an update claiming the teenager's skin is clear and shows no signs of the deterioration that doctors warned would happen



Jahi received a kiss from her sister. The family made headlines for months when her family refused to allow her life support systems to be removed, despite medical declarations that the teenager was brain dead


Jahi received a kiss from her sister. The family made headlines for months when her family refused to allow her life support systems to be removed, despite medical declarations that the teenager was brain dead





Jahi's family, including her mom, pictured here, have also been working on the legal side of the teenager’s situation. They have been fighting for the right to submit new evidence that Jahi is alive


Jahi's family, including her mom, pictured here, have also been working on the legal side of the teenager's situation. They have been fighting for the right to submit new evidence that Jahi is alive









Incredible moment 'brain-dead' teen moves foot on command (2014)






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'As you can see she is still alive and just as beautiful as ever. Flawless skin! She will be 15 in a few days. Thank you all for the continued love, support and prayers!'

The family lawyer, Mr Dolan has acknowledged that a recovery from brain death would be a medical first however he insists, along with the family, that brain scans show electrical activity and that she responds to verbal commands from her mother.

Dolan, the family's attorney has claimed he has 'medical experts, including world-class experts on brain death who will testify she is not brain dead'.

Jahi McMath's relatives won a high-profile legal battle to keep their daughter's life support machine turned on at the start of 2014, despite a coroner issuing her death certificate.

The hospital treating Jahi released her into the care of her mother Nailah Winkfield and other family members who agreed to be 'wholly and exclusively responsible'for the teenager.

However, lawyers for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital say the evidence in Jahi's case still supports the determination that she is legally dead.



Although he did acknowledge that 'she would be eligible for the same state benefits as every other person not brain dead on a ventilator, and who gets full medical care'.



The teenager suffered a cardiac arrest following a routine operation to remove her tonsils at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland, California, in December 2013.

She was left with brain damage that the hospital said was so severe that she was effectively dead with no chance of survival if a respirator was turned off.

Last October, the family released videos which they say prove she's still alive.

In the two clips, the teenger is seen lying in her bed at a New Jersey hospital, moving on command.

In one clip, her mother, Nailah Winkfield, asks her to move her leg and the girl's foot jerks in reaction.

In the another clip, her mother asks her to move her arm, and the girl's hand grips an object before relaxing.
Three doctors and the court agreed she was brain dead and the hospital applied to turn off her life support machine. Jahi was declared brain dead and doctors sought a medical declaration for her death.

But her family, led by mother Nailah and uncle Omari Sealey, has always refused to accept the prognosis and argued there was still a chance she could recover.

They said that she responded to her mother's voice and asked that she be removed to a hospital that cared for her.
The family won an injunction preventing the hospital switching off life support and agreed a 'protocol' with them in which the teenager could be transferred to another facility while on a ventilator.

In January 2014, Children's Hospital Oakland spokesman Sam Singer criticized the family's decision to give Jahi 'nutrients' to maintain her brain at optimum efficiency.

'This is a deceased young woman,' he told ABC 7.

'No amount of food, medicine, medical machinery, time or hope is going to bring back her back.

'So it's really wrong and unethical for Mr Dolan to mislead the family and the public that there's any amount of hope or any food that could possibly bring back this deceased young woman


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3290436/She-alive-just-beautiful-Family-Jahi-McMath-declared-brain-dead-doctors-life-support-two-years-celebrate-15th-birthday.html#ixzz3piegIu7G
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook




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Death is no longer cut and dried anymore. Dead is dead. . . Except it isn't! ! What?!?!

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Lady Gaga Snerd


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Well, I take issue with the hospital and officials saying she is "deceased". No she isn't deceased. I think that is a rude overstep on their part. Is she brain dead? Not completely. Her heart is continuing to beat on it's own accord. So, that isn't "dead". Is she in a persistent vegetative state? Yes. Apparently that is her condition and it is not one from which she will recover from. So, to say "this is a deceased young woman" is rather ignorant on their part. Say, 'she is in a persistent vegetative state". Obviously she is "alive". Her body is performing bodily functions of circulating her blood, respiration (even with a ventilator) - ventilator doesnt' work on someone who is truly dead because no gases can be made and exchanged. She is taking in oxygen, using it and elimination CO2. Dead people don't do that. And, she is making some kind of waste via urine, excrement, etc. Dead people cease to do that. Persistent vegetative state, yes. "Deceased", no she is not. And, I find that kind of language very disturbing coming from the hospital.

As for her state, I think it is very sad. And, I think there are times that prolonging death is worse than prolonging life. I would have no ethical problem to stop tube feedings, IV's and the ventilator because this is more of a prolonged death.

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Lawyerlady


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I certainly hope she is "deceased" and that her soul has moved on. I would find it horrible to think her family is causing her to be trapped in that prison of a body.

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Lawyerlady wrote:

I certainly hope she is "deceased" and that her soul has moved on. I would find it horrible to think her family is causing her to be trapped in that prison of a body.

 I agree. If I was ever in that position, I hope that I would be strong enough to let my child go.

flan



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Southern_Belle


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So sad.

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Mary Zombie


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Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
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I wonder if they are getting any kind of benefits? If so they aren't completely responsible.
And I think what they're doing is horrid.
Poor girl.



-- Edited by Mary Zombie on Tuesday 27th of October 2015 12:01:10 PM

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Ohfour


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RE: Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two y
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Mary Zombie wrote:

I wonder if they are getting any kind of benefits? If so they aren't completely responsible.
And I think what they're doing is horrid.
Poor girl.



-- Edited by Mary Zombie on Tuesday 27th of October 2015 12:01:10 PM

I'm conflicted on this one. What would you have them do at this point? 



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Lady Gaga Snerd


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2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 



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Mary Zombie


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I think they need to let her go. It's been 2 years.
Those movements are probably involuntary reflexes.
It's not really living....IMO

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Lady Gaga Snerd


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Ohfour wrote:

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 




It isn't "starving" in the sense of a functional human being starving. I would rather have that than let them lie in bed for years in a coma. That isn't peace. There is suffering in that too that we don't even know.

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Ohfour


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Mary Zombie wrote:

I think they need to let her go. It's been 2 years.
Those movements are probably involuntary reflexes.
It's not really living....IMO

I totally agree that the "movements" are reflexes.  I just don't know that I could starve my child.  I can't even imagine being in that position.

But I would not have taken it this far.  I would have let her go at the beginning... 



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Ohfour


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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
Ohfour wrote:

 

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 


 



It isn't "starving" in the sense of a functional human being starving. I would rather have that than let them lie in bed for years in a coma. That isn't peace. There is suffering in that too that we don't even know.

I know.  I understand. I pray that I never ever have to make that call.  For anyone... 



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flan327


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Ohfour wrote:
Mary Zombie wrote:

I think they need to let her go. It's been 2 years.
Those movements are probably involuntary reflexes.
It's not really living....IMO

I totally agree that the "movements" are reflexes.  I just don't know that I could starve my child.  I can't even imagine being in that position.

But I would not have taken it this far.  I would have let her go at the beginning... 

 That would have been best for everyone.

flan



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Lady Gaga Snerd


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Well, that is a good point. I think they did take it too far. But, I personally do not want tube feedings and IV hydration, etc. And you could stop those things and enlist hospice and they patient is medicated and very comfortable up until the end. It is simply allowing nature to take its course which is different in my opinion than active killing. Is she on a ventilator, if so, that would be disconnected and that would only be a matter of minutes. But, we really don't know her conditions or the extent of it. Maybe she does have more brain function than we are aware of. Or, not.

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When Mama was in hospice she stopped eating and drinking. Beyond injecting water in her mouth and meds to keep her comfortable she pretty much starved at the end. She looked sonpeaceful peaceful and intotally believe what they told me...that she felt no discomfort.
Perhaps Hospice could be an option.

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Mary Zombie


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Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
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oops Gaga suggested Hospice too. I agree



-- Edited by Mary Zombie on Tuesday 27th of October 2015 12:23:15 PM

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RE: Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two y
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They need to let her go. It's too late now but in the beginning her organs could have been used to help other kids. I would do that if I had no other choice. I'd feel like my child lived on a little.

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Ohfour wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 

 She wouldn't.  Turn off the respirator.  She can't breath on her own.  That would end it very quickly.



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Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two years
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Lawyerlady wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 

 She wouldn't.  Turn off the respirator.  She can't breath on her own.  That would end it very quickly.

She's not on a respirator. They only things she is given is IV fluids and food...

(I think)



-- Edited by Ohfour on Tuesday 27th of October 2015 02:01:38 PM

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RE: Family of Jahi McMath, declared 'brain dead' by doctors, mark her 15th birthday as she remains on life support two y
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Ohfour wrote:
Lawyerlady wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

2 years of laying in bed is not a life. What could you do? You can make her a DNR. You can stop the tube feedings and IV therapy. In olden days, if Grandma had a stroke, you brought her home, tried to feed her with a medicine dropper, but ultimately she died. Yes, of starvation/dehydration. But, that was a natural death.

I don't know that I could let my child starve to death. 

 She wouldn't.  Turn off the respirator.  She can't breath on her own.  That would end it very quickly.

She's not on a respirator. They only things she is given is IV fluids and food...

(I think)



-- Edited by Ohfour on Tuesday 27th of October 2015 02:01:38 PM

 She is on a ventilator.  That was pretty much the fight.

 

"Although he did acknowledge that 'she would be eligible for the same state benefits as every other person not brain dead on a ventilator, and who gets full medical care'.

The teenager suffered a cardiac arrest following a routine operation to remove her tonsils at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland, California, in December 2013.

She was left with brain damage that the hospital said was so severe that she was effectively dead with no chance of survival if a respirator was turned off."



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Ohfour


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I have no idea, but can you place a ventilator through the chest? I thought they had to be through the mouth...

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Ohfour wrote:

I have no idea, but can you place a ventilator through the chest? I thought they had to be through the mouth...

 The ventilator is attached to her throat.  They are covering it with a blanket but you can see bits of it on the side of this picture -

 

 

The Facebook page, Keep Jahi McMath on Life Support shared an update claiming the teenager's skin is clear and shows no signs of the deterioration that doctors warned would happen



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Lady Gaga Snerd


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Tracheotomy

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Mary Zombie


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I don't think she looks fabulous. That pic makes me sad. That poor poor girl.

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Ohfour


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Then they should shut it off. I would...

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This thread makes my heart hurt. Neither choice is easy and I'll pray for this family to find peace.

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This is no doubt heart-breaking, but they are hoping for an outcome that just isn't going to happen. The mother is spending countless hours with this--really to the detriment of any other children.



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I can understand being devoted to a handicapped child. I can understand the mothers grief and sense of loss. But this child is kept alive wholly by machines and she is not aware of anything.
How do you recover from being "brain dead"?
It has been two years, she's not going to get any better.
This is not the same as the case in Florida of the woman who was awake and breathing on her own, and her DH pulled the feeding tubes.
I, myself, would not have done this to my child. I would not want to live like this myself. This is not living or even the potential for living a contributing life. This is a brain dead body functioning with machines.

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So true Czech.

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