Community Chat

[sidsmom]

If you Google 'Jahi McMath 2017', the news sources for this 

story are odd....a couple LA & New Jersey sites,

Daily Mail (of course), & a couple of other websites I've never heard of.

I mean...gosh, if she is 'alive', wouldn't it be groundbreaking news?

Just that, into itself, should be enough for anyone to realize

this story is a sham. 

[garmer]

She is as alive as she was 3 years ago. Her body is being maintained by machines, drugs, and a feeding tube.

The saga began in California. She was moved to NJ because they have different laws pertaining to brain death. Had she remained in California, she would have been removed from life support by hospital personnel, as per the court order.

It's a messed up story, but true.

@sidsmom

[suzyQ3]

I read the article in today's Los Angeles Times. Apparently, the judge relied on one expert who has a strong bias:

In ordering the case to trial, Pulido relied on the testimony of a well-known critic of diagnosing brain death, Dr. Alan Shewmon.

In court documents filed in July, the retired UCLA neurologist said videos recorded by Jahi's family from 2014 to 2016 showed the teen was still alive.

The images, some made public by the girl's relatives, show Jahi twitching her fingers and reacting to odors that Shewmon and her relatives said were noxious without providing more specifics.

Shewmon said Jahi's body has not deteriorated as expected. A doctor who examines the girl every three months for the family has testified that Jahi reached puberty and menstruated while in New Jersey.

Shewmon said Jahi is in a “minimally responsive state.”

Hospital lawyers have argued that the family has not subjected Jahi to tests accepted by the American Medical Assn. to determine whether someone is brain-dead.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-brain-dead-girl-20170907-story.html

[Kachina624]

Seems to me like only a medical professional is qualified to to make such a determination.  Sounds like the judge is grandstanding and out of line to make such a statement. 

[missy1]

I hope they jury would actually see Jahi in person. (going to wherever she is is)

Is there recent pictures/video's of her? (other than her family taking them, like a news reporter etc -for proof)

From the SFGate dot com site: article dated 9/7/17

“The plaintiffs’ counsel has agreed that Jahi McMath fulfilled the neurologic criteria for brain death when she was declared brain dead and deceased in December 2013,” the statement reads. “Jahi McMath has not undergone a brain death evaluation pursuant to accepted neurologic criteria as set forth in the Guidelines since she was legally declared deceased in December 2013. The videotapes do not meet the criteria set forth in the Guidelines.”

“There is no question that in December 2013 at Oakland Children’s Hospital, Jahi McMath fulfilled the widely accepted pediatric guidelines for determining brain death,” Shewmon wrote in his Alameda Country Superior Court declaration. “There is equally no question in my mind that she no longer does, for the single reason that the first of the three cardinal findings in brain death — coma, absence of brainstem reflexes, and apnea — is not fulfilled. Rather, she is intermittently responsive, placing her in the category of ‘minimally responsive state.’”

[OfCourse]

I'm no brain surgeon, but it seems there are surprises when it comes to a small number of these cases.  Every now and then, I'll see a news story about someone who emerged from a coma and was okay.  I saw one in recent months, but I don't remember the details.  Certainly, the doctors and scientists don't know everything.  I can't evaluate this judge's opinion, of course. 

[Plaid Pants2]

There is a huge difference between being in a coms, where there is brain wave activity, and there being zero brain wave activity, also known as brain dead.

If it weren't for machines, her brain would not even regulate her heart to beat, or for her to even breathe.

People do not wake up from that.

[ALRATIBA]

There's a woman walking around England today who had a stroke and was declared brain dead.

She heard everything that was being said about removing her life support ...

[suzyQ3]

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@ALRATIBA wrote:

There's a woman walking around England today who had a stroke and was declared brain dead.

She heard everything that was being said about removing her life support ...

---

Details, please @ALRATIBA

[ALRATIBA]

@suzyQ3

Daily Mail article dated May 17, 2011.  By Kate Allatt

Headline:  "Doctor said I was brain dead, I wanted to scream, but all I could do is blink"