Posted on 12/24/2015 6:52:06 PM PST by kathsua
As the state court has permitted Jahi McMath’s mother to present evidence from a doctor who has examined Jahi and believes she does not meet brain death criteria, lawyer Christopher Dolan is making a federal case out of it. From his press release:
After exhausting all available avenues to work with the State Department of Vital Statistics, Alameda County Department of Public Health, County Coroner’s Office and County Counsel, to have Jahi McMath’s incomplete, and invalid death certificate (not even signed by an attesting physician) rescinded, and her basic human rights restored…
The suit requests that the Federal Court order restoration of Jahi McMath’s fundamental Constitutional rights and declare that she is not brain dead as per the criteria established under California Law.
The lawsuit also seeks to have the Court deem unconstitutional the brain death statute as it provides no mechanism by which evidence can be presented that the original determination of brain death is no longer valid in the face of significant scientific and medical evidence of brain function like that currently demonstrated by Jahi McMath.
That last bit seems a potentially winning argument to me regardless of Jahi’s condition.
I believe in brain death and once thought Jahi was certainly dead–to the great irritation of many who usually agree with my positions.
But I also wrote that my eyebrow would raise if her body didn’t deteriorate as usually happens pretty quickly in brain death cases.
Now, two years later, Jahi has not deteriorated–not unprecedented, but rare–and a prominent neurologist who I know and trust has personally examined her, believes she no longer meets brain dead criteria. My eyebrows are past the crown of my head!
I think the proper course here is for there to be a full-bore, transparent reopening of this case.
If Jahi is not dead, she deserves it.
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So does neurological science, because if her brain function has indeed reversed from “dead†to “profoundly disabled,†it is unprecedented and requires intense study.
So does the integrity of the system. No one should be forced to stay dead if facts on the ground change. Moreover, if the facts have not changed, it is important for the public to know.
Let me be clear. I am not saying she is alive. But I am saying there is sufficient doubt to warrant another hard look. And I don’t understand why some are so angrily and emotionally invested in her being dead.
I'm not avoiding or changing any subject; I am merely compiling everything I can find out about it. I have been following this case since it first started, and am keenly interested in finding out what is really happening. The family is not very forthcoming with updates. There is absolutely no independent verification that Jahi's heart is still beating.
As a scientist, I have had the experience of growing human cells in flasks and Petri dishes. One thing this experience has made quite clear to me is that there are two levels of life. One, is the biological level--which is all that is going on with Jahi, if the body continues to function at all (and I have no way of knowing that, since the family is awfully tight-lipped about communicating that information). The other is the person level, where there is thought and sentience; Jahi has not had that since the catastrophic injury that killed her brain. Cells, if given nutrients and oxygen, can continue to grow for a long time. Being a young girl, she would have high numbers of stem cells in her tissues, which can continue to replenish some tissues for a long time. I know that, experimentally, dead bodies have been maintained on respirators for months following brain death, before the heart failed. They were bodies of adults; it would make sense that it would take longer for a still-growing child's body to fail after brain death has occurred.
What I really think is going on now (if the heart is still beating and she hasn't been secretly buried, that is) is that the organs have atrophied, decay processes due to enzyme activity have stopped, and that the remaining living tissue is being maintained by nutrients being pumped into an IV.
I do not have much comment on what I posted two years ago. Any medical literature I linked is still valid; nothing I said then has been contradicted by lawyer Dolan's current attempts to wring more money out of this case.
Anyway, I do need to go to bed now. Merry Christmas.
I remember your very disingenuous analogy of keeping a body living to HeLa cells.
Please do not insult our intelligence.
You made definitive statements two years ago.
Address them.
I’d fail you on your orals if you tried to avoid a question as you are here.
Crazy flights of fancy that she is secretly buried etc... Is just that. Nutty and unfounded.
Merry Christmas and good night.
Yeb did a lot to impede Michael’s plans to murder Terri.
But finally the day came when it was Yeb’s duty to send cops and/or soldiers to save Terri from murder, and he chickened out.
I’ve been in and out of hospitals all year. I have told my family if the worst happens, it happens. One thing i fear more than any is being kept alive in some sort of vegetative state.
Anecdotal cases aside, many people are concerned about being declared “dead” before their time so their organs can be harvested. For those who are, here’s an option:
http://cart.lifeguardianfoundation.org/
Thanks for the diagnosis "doctor"....
How was that Holiday Inn last night?
True words
I hesitate to ping you on Christmas, but here we go again!
Merry Christmas.
How about taking a break, for just one day? Your message of death to the useless eaters can keep until tomorrow.
not sure if you know this....Gov Bush sent FDLE to the nursing home, had Terry forcibly removed and taken to a hospital where he ordered the feeding tube put back in. It took the judge just a short time to reverse that.
perhaps youcan explain what more you would do.
Ignore the judge. That was Jeb's moment to have a profile in courage. And he folded like a cheap suit.
seems like your memory may be impaired. I refer you to Senator Moynihan’s pointed response....
you are entitled to your own opinion.
you are not entitled to your own facts.
Merry Christmas.
he mostly did ignore the judge, then the murderous clan ran to federal district court and cut Jeb out. the USSC refused to grant certiorari and the game was up.
Game is never up.
You take a stand. He would have been a hero.
Terri Schiavo was deliberately killed over 13 days, even denied water.
Who has the right to do that?
The Florida Constitution has a very clear right to life.
All Jeb had to do was defend it.
And what was any court going to do about it?
As we have seen all too many times, our judicial system is hopelessly corrupt.
A county probate judge should never have been given the power of life and death, under any law.
as yogi said, “its terri all over again”
Merry Christmas.
I’m not the FReeper who posted the article.
Is this really how you want to spend Christmas Day? Calling for the murder of an innocent child, and making false accusations against innocent FReepers, to create the illusion of support for your pro-death agenda.
Try to remember what today is, and take a break from promoting the murder of innocents for just one day. What would it hurt? Would tomorrow be too late to kill Jahi McMath? She's been slated for extermination for what, two, two and a half years? Would one more day kill you? And now that I think about it, would that be any worse than killing Jahi? Why don't you put your day to better use, and spend it pondering that question?
It wasn’t a game. Terri Schiavo lost her life, while Jeb Bush (and others) played politics.
When Jeb believed it was to his political advantage, he defended Terri’s life. When he thought it would be to his political advantage to step aside and let her be murdered, he didn’t hesitate in his betrayal.
You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
Since an order from a judge to murder a citizen is null: Send more cops and troops. Threaten to shoot anyone who prevents putting the feeding tube back in. Shoot to kill if anyone does.
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