Prayers Needed as Well as a Good Understanding of " Brain Death"

 

Two days after she was moved from Oakland hospital, Jahi McMath’s condition is worsening

By Dave Andrusko

Jahi McMath

The attorney for the family of Jahi McMath, Christopher Dolan, will not even confirm which coast the family has moved the teenager to, out of a desire, he says, to shield the family’s privacy and because of emails and posts that angrily denounce the family for moving Jahi who has been declared brain dead, from Children’s Hospital Oakland.
But after winning a three-week old battle to move their daughter, her prognosis is not good. According to a story in today’s San Jose Mercury News, written by Lisa M. Krieger and David DeBolt,

“the family of Jahi McMath conceded Monday they are losing the ghastly war against nature.

“Her body, checked in at an undisclosed care facility Monday morning, has deteriorated so badly, that ‘Right now, we don’t know if she’s going to make it,” said attorney Christopher Dolan.

‘She’s in very bad shape,’ he said. ‘What I can tell you is that those examinations show that her medical condition, separate from the brain issue, is not good.’”

The hospital’s position was and is clear. It was unethical to nourish someone declared to be legally and medically dead. That is why while Jahi has been on a ventilator ever since her condition went catastrophically wrong following December 9 surgery, it was not until Monday that she “began receiving potassium, minerals and hormones through an IV, in addition to antibiotics to combat a possible infection,” according to Dolan.

According to today’s story by Krieger and DeBolt

“But she’s not receiving regular feedings due to physical problems that do not allow surgical insertion of a feeding tube, Dolan said. He would not disclose what those issues were but said Jahi was being examined by medical staff at the new facility. He would not disclose its name.”

Children’s Hospital Oakland would not insert a feeding tube or a breathing tube into the teenager and would not allow an outsider to do so. An agreement was finally reached last Friday during a hearing before Alameda Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo that allowed Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, to remove her daughter from the hospital as long as she assumed full responsibility. Jahi was moved by ambulance Sunday, attached to a ventilator. 

Nolan has told reporters that five facilities had agreed to take Jahi but then backed out. The assumption, which the family has not confirmed or denied, is that Jahi is at New Beginnings Center in Medford, New York.

Initial costs for moving Jahi have been paid for by charitable donations, Nolan said.

Source: NRLC News