Buddy: Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! I'm not in a coma any more!
Mrs. Dionosopolis: Thank God!
Mr. Dionosopolis: [ embarrassed ] Buddy..? Buddy..?
Buddy: [ raising finger ] Ohhhhh.. what are you doing? Were you pulling the plug on me!
Posted on 01/09/2014 9:34:58 PM PST by 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.”
Buddy: Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! I'm not in a coma any more!
Mrs. Dionosopolis: Thank God!
Mr. Dionosopolis: [ embarrassed ] Buddy..? Buddy..?
Buddy: [ raising finger ] Ohhhhh.. what are you doing? Were you pulling the plug on me!
More than you do apparently. Try doing some reading. Here is one summary. There are many others.
The clinical criteria of brain death throughout the world: why has it come to this? http://www.psy.vanderbilt.edu/courses/hon182/criteria.pdf
I was reading earlier that, for young children, tonsillectomy alone is actually used to treat sleep apnea. I don’t know why Jahi at age 13 was cleared for more than a tonsillectomy. Maybe at puberty more surgery is considered appropriate...? So many unanswered questions in this case.
She is brain dead according to the criteria in all 50 States and the District of Columbia.
Yes, people have improved from a persistent vegetative state (PVS). But Jahi is not in a PVS. Jahi is brain dead. Right now her brain is liquefying, her body is sloughing off the gut, and the subcutaneous tissue is turning gray and beginning to stink.
She’s not going to wake up. She’s dead, has been dead for four weeks now!
There's no cerebral activity whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Her brain is not receiving oxygen. It is decomposing. She is not in a coma. She is not "brain injured". She is not "brain damaged". She is dead. Absolutely and unequivocally dead.
“Her brain is not receiving oxygen.” I’m CURIOUS AS TO THE SOURCE OF HOW YOU KNOW THIS SO UNEQUIVOCALLY.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo decreed Jahi dead under California Health & Safety Code § 7180.
Legal documents filed in this case may be found here.
If she was denied nutrition and fluids, providing them would improve the general physical condition, but it won’t do anything if her brain has indeed ceased to do more than perform autonomic tasks.
If her heart and lungs are working, I have a hard time with your claim her brain is not receiving oxygen. I have no argument her brain in all examinations is dead short of her autonomic nervous system, but the fact she is breathing and her heart is pumping on their own, pretty much devoid your claim that her “brain” is not getting oxygen.
So now that she is on a ventilator and a heart machine, you’re saying that blood is not getting to her brain cells?
Yes. I’m not a physician and cannot explain why, but I’ve read the blogs of neurologists unaffiliated with the hospital and they’re clear that the tests performed indicate no blood is getting to the brain cells.
Here's another good jumping off spot for information on the Jahi McMath case.
Google Jahi’s name and ‘radionuclide brain scan.’ That’s the test that was performed on her and confirms her brain is not receiving any blood flow.
The brain is a most interesting organ. It thrives on continuous 02 exchange energy production, but when 02 supply drops below a certain level, the cells in the brain switch to a sugar based energy system rather than an external 02 burn system, for a while anyway.
One other test performed on her was to take her off the vent, which they did for nine minutes. Once the carbon dioxide level in her arterial blood hit 70%, her brainstem should have initiated a breath if she wasn't brain dead. It didn't.
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