Jahi McMath’s Health “Improving” After She Gets Feeding, Breathing Tubes

Life News ^ | Dave Andrusko

[Morgana]

The lawyer for the family of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old who has been declared brain dead, said Wednesday that doctors successfully inserted a gastric tube and tracheotomy tube into the teenager at an as yet undisclosed facility.

Jahi was transferred from Oakland Children’s Hospital January 5 after a protracted legal battle between the family and the hospital which declared Jahi brain dead December 12 and sought to remove her from a ventilator.

The arraignment to move Jahi was reached during a hearing Friday before Alameda Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo under which Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, could remove her daughter from the hospital as long as she assumed full responsibility.

Christopher Dolan told reporters that Jahi’s health is “improving,” and labeled the surgery “a success.”

“She is doing very well and getting the treatment she should have gotten 28 days ago,” Dolan said in a text message, according to the Oakland Tribune. “Doctors are optimistic that her condition has stabilized and that her health is improving from when she was taken from Children’s Hospital Oakland.”

Illustrating the daily ebb and flow, on Monday, Nolan was far less optimistic. “She’s in very bad shape,” he said, adding examinations show Jahi’s medical condition “is not good.”

The hospital reiterated its position that Jahi is brain dead. Deterioration “became inevitable the moment she died,” according to Dr. Heidi Flori, a critical care physician at Children’s Hospital.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Dr. Flori said in a court declaration filed in U.S. District Court that “The medical team and I believe that additional and more dramatic signs of the body’s deterioration will continue to manifest over time, regardless of any procedures and regardless of any heroic measures that any facility in the country might attempt.”

At the recommendation of doctors Jahi underwent an operation on December 9 to remove her tonsils, adenoids and extra sinus tissue to treat pediatric obstructive sleep apnea.

Afterwards “The teen girl was alert and talking to doctors after the procedure, even asking for a Popsicle because her throat hurt,” CNN reported. “That was a relief in some ways because she’d expressed concerns to her family about the surgery, fearing she would never wake up from it, her uncle has said.”

[fatima]

Thanks Vermont Lt (((((Hugs)))))

[exit82]

Her brain is DEAD.

So is Joe Biden brain dead and he is VP...

That is true AND funny

[PghBaldy]

No. The cadaver’s heart is pumping due to machines.

[MD Expat in PA]

Not exactly, she was perhaps is on a ventilator, but her heart is still pumping au natural. So her autonomic nervous system is still functioning at some level. That’s the crux of the issue.. she’s declared brain dead but not heart dead.

She has been on a ventilator the whole time. But her heart is not beating au natural. It continues to beat because of the artificial respiration. The heart has its own internal pacemaker which is not dependent on the brain.

Why does the heart keep beating if a person is brain dead?

The heart has its own pacemaker independent of the brain. As long as it has oxygen, it continues to beat. The heart could actually be removed from the body, placed in saline solution, given oxygen, and still continue to beat. This is why although the brain is dead, the heart continues to beat.

[MD Expat in PA]

If she is in fact brain dead (which seems likely, but not proven in a public forum), then the lawyers and advocates pushing for ventilation of a dead body should be ashamed of themselves.

The family’s attorney Christopher Dolan and his political contributions:

2012

2010

2008

Picture of his office lobby. Why do those signs look familiar?

While I don’t doubt that Jahi’s mother and family are grief stricken, I do question their lawyer’s motivation in all this. There is currently a $250k cap in CA on non-monetary damages but there is also an ballot initiative to raise that cap.

Meanwhile, an advocacy group is facing sharp criticism for using Jahi's case to try to raise money.

The nonprofit Consumer noted in an email solicitation that it fights for patient safety for families like Jahi's and that it had drafted a proposed November ballot measure that would raise medical malpractice award limits in California.

Dolan, the family attorney, is a board member of Consumer Attorneys of California, the prime group funding the ballot initiative to lift the cap on pain and suffering awards. But he said he was dismayed that Consumer Watchdog used Jahi's name as a fundraising tool.

"Using Jahi's case as an example is wrong and that is not what this case is about," he said in a text message to the Associated Press.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/national_world&id=9387183

Yea, right, color me skeptical.

Don’t forget that even if a lawyer like Dolan loses, he never misses a big fat paycheck. Even if the family wins a malpractice suit and compensatory damages but only collects 250K for their pain and suffering (and how much will Dolan take from that?), and since I’m pretty sure the bills and expenses are mounting and since she’s been declared dead, I would think that any insurance has stopped paying and the hospital is going to fight against having to eat the costs of keeping a body alive after being declared dead, he’s going to sue for not only the family’s expenses but for his own fees to be paid.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

The lawyer is a cretin who should be disbarred.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

She is dead and is decomposing.

You can’t murder a person who is already dead.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

Because she is dead. There is no blood flow to her brain.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

Sharon was in a coma whereas Jahi is brain dead.

The two are not the same.

Brain dead equals dead.

[Talisker]

Sharon was in a coma whereas Jahi is brain dead.

The two are not the same.

Brain dead equals dead.

Brain dead equals a slew of definitions, depending on whether you want to acknowledge certain levels of brain functions as life signs, or whether you need someone to be dead so that they don't live and expose you to a gigantic lawsuit.

Just because the hospital is using morgue terminology doesn't exactly explain why a judge allowed Jahi's parents to continue treatment elsewhere. It stands to reason that evidence was presented to the judge that indicated that Jahi is, in fact, still alive.

[fortheDeclaration]

I have no problem with them removing cardiopulmonary support, if she cannot function without it, than she is indeed dead.

My problem was if her heart and lungs were working and she wasn't being fed.

[fortheDeclaration]

True, if her heart and lungs are not working on their own, she is indeed dead.

[Scoutmaster]

Understood.

If you're interested in a copy of the report on the apnea test performed on Jahi by Dr. Paul Fisher, then here it is.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

She is not alive. Several doctors and a coroner declared her dead. She is decomposing.

This entire thing is mind-blowing.

[Talisker]

“Decomposing”?!

LOL, shills always go too far.

It’s one of their fingerprints.

[Scoutmaster]

My problem was if her heart and lungs were working and she wasn't being fed.

I'll need to search among the many medical articles, physician blogs, and other information I've bookmarked since researching the death of Ms. McMath. Suffice it to say, nutrition doesn't work to maintain the body or restore the life of a body that has suffered total brain death.

[Scoutmaster]

She's decomposing

[Drango]

LOL, shills always go too far.

~sigh...No one is shilling. It happens when there is brain death. Please read some of the articles posted up thread

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2014/01/jahi-mcmath-merely-dead-or-really-most.html

Here is just one of the articles.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

While normal brain tissue is firm, a brain that has been dead shows progressive autolysis, a form of biological self-destruction. “It will almost be like soup,” Dr. Harry Vinters, chief of neuropathology at UCLA, recently explained to me. He is the co-author of a major textbook on the pathology of the brain and has performed almost a hundred autopsies on the brain-dead.

“It really depends on how long they have been on the ventilator. If they have been on the ventilator for two days, then the brain is grey and softened. But if, for example, a family has had difficulty deciding what they want to do and the patient has been kept on the ventilator for two to three weeks, then there’s tremendous autolysis. The brain gets very swollen, soft, and mushy.” The nerve tissue can become so friable that fragments of brain from the head will break off and float down the spinal column. “Sometimes I’ll be looking at a slide of the spinal cord,” says Vinters, “and I’ll see fragments of cerebellum floating around in the specimen.”

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

What are you talking about? The girl has been dead for a month so it stands to reason that she would be decomposing.

Like the doctor said, her body is deteriorating.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

This doctor sure has a strong stomach!