Posted on 07/04/2018 7:47:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
Amid all the raging political headlines and hyperventilating tweets of the Summer of Resistance, a searing ember of news stopped me in my tracks this week.
Jahi McMath has passed away.
I never had a chance to meet the young California teen, but her fight for life gripped me three years ago and was never far from my mind or heart -- especially as my own daughter, the same age as Jahi, battled her own health crisis.
Do you remember Jahi? Medical experts declared her "brain dead" after a routine tonsillectomy gone wrong. Children's Hospital Oakland pushed to have all life-sustaining medical treatment terminated; the professionals predicted quick deterioration. California declared Jahi legally "brain dead."
But Jahi's mother, professional nurse Latasha "Nailah" Winkfield, refused to accept their verdict. As a parent, caregiver and believer in Christ, Winkfield was compelled to protect her child. With the help of the pro-life Schiavo Foundation, Winkfield moved with her daughter to a long-term care facility in New Jersey.
Medical ethics scholar Wesley Smith visited Jahi with the Schiavo Foundation's Bobby Schindler 10 months ago and reported: "At the time of the tragedy, I believed ... that Jahi was, indeed, dead. But I now have strong doubts. It's nearly four years later, and Jahi's body still has not broken down...She has experienced no visible bodily decline ... Disabled is not dead."
Dr. Alan Shewmon, professor emeritus of pediatrics and neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, reviewed nearly 50 videos of Jahi moving her fingers on command last year and wrote in a court declaration that Jahi was "a living, severely disabled young lady, who currently fulfills neither the standard diagnostic guidelines for brain death nor California's statutory definition of death."
And a team of Harvard researchers recently reported that over the past five years, Jahi was indeed growing, digested food, had menstrual cycles, healed wounds and fought off infections. "We would say that Jahi's parents were far from crazy in believing their daughter to still be biologically alive," Dr. Robert Truog, director of the Harvard Center for Bioethics, concluded.
The changed tune of many "experts" came too late for Jahi's family, which had been fighting in court to bring her back to California. After undergoing several surgeries for intestinal problems, Jahi succumbed to excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation. Jahi will finally head home to Oakland this week, where the family's lawyer says her brain will be preserved for further study.
With all the roar these days of keeping families together, why is there so little media attention to the plight of American families of brain-injured children who've been forced to separate by medical elites making bright-line mortality judgments based on murky diagnostic criteria for what constitutes life?
Also suffering out of the selective media spotlight: Children with rare illnesses ripped from their homes in medical kidnappings by arrogant medical professionals and child welfare bureaucrats who scoff at parental sovereignty and autonomy.
Jahi's life and death inspired other families of disabled children to fight back.
Jahi's life and death raised awareness of patients' rights, living wills, durable powers of attorney, "do not resuscitate" orders, revocable trusts and advance directives.
Jahi's life and death resonated beyond ideology, race and class. I'll not forget the Instagram image of Jahi's mom clasping her daughter's hand at her hospital bedside -- an enduring symbol of hope, suffering, resilience and abiding love.
Jahi McMath mattered. She defied her California death certificate. She humbled the experts. She brought joy to her loved ones. Her heart and brain may have stopped, but the light she brought in her short time on earth will not be extinguished.
Remember Jahi?
Shoot, how about I’ll never forget her.
can’t say that I do.
Four and a half years ago. She's just been slowly decomposing in a refrigerated hospital room until it was no longer possible to pretend otherwise.
What happened during the tonsillectomy? They must have lost control of her airway. Horrible!
So why did you post this?
From my recollection, I think she had sudden onset of heavy bleeding that they were not able to control. Blood loss caused brain damage. A freak post-op complication.
I will double check, but I think that’s what went wrong.
“She’s just been slowly decomposing in a refrigerated hospital room until it was no longer possible to pretend otherwise.”
We are all slowly decomposing and will die.
Jahi deserved a chance. If she had proper medical treatment from the beginning, maybe she would have had a chance. But California was too quick to cover up for their medical mistake and declare this child dead way before her time.
Not a routine T0ectomy at all. Had the Tectomy, sinus surgery and another that I cannot recall the name of, she had airway issues previously. Then, she was hungry shortly after surgery ( on a feeding tube apparently), and Grandma fed her a burger, which started the bleeding, then, the she suctioned the child’s mouth with the vacuum, which exacerbated the issue, then they called the staff...
Not a routine anything.
There was a recent thread on this subject not long ago- few days, had links to the real story behind the story.
Tonsils, adenoids and a couple other things. No matter what, a terrible event. Prayers to the family.
What if they gave a Summer of Resistance and nobody came?
Her tonsillectomy was to relieve obesity-related breathing problems.
Her post-operative recovery instructions was to receive rest and avoid solid foods. Instead, her family had a party in her room. And a cheeseburger appeared. Nobody admits to bringing it in but it was there. A cheeseburger. And Jahi started eating it. Things went downhill from there.
I remember her. Cute kid. Sad the way the gov/hospital treated her and the family.
Hamburger. There’s a reason you are supposed to ask the nurse what the patient can or can not eat. There’s a reason why they usually get ice cream.
And a team of Harvard researchers recently reported that over the past five years, Jahi was indeed growing, digested food, had menstrual cycles, healed wounds and fought off infections. “We would say that Jahi’s parents were far from crazy in believing their daughter to still be biologically alive,” Dr. Robert Truog, director of the Harvard Center for Bioethics, concluded.
********************************************I****
I’m, with near certainty, among the minority here. Yes, Jahi was biologically alive just as a cabbage is biologically alive. But we don’t spend millions of dollars to keep a cabbage biologically alive. And, for the same reason, it doesn’t make sense to spend millions of dollars of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY to keep individuals who are in a chronic vegetative state “biologically alive”.
But, but, but......Terry terry, terry
Do you remember Jahi? Medical experts declared her “brain dead” after a routine tonsillectomy gone wrong.
...
It wasn’t a routine tonsillectomy. It was a complicated procedure to help her breathing. Her grandmother fed her a hamburger after the surgery against orders and then tried to suction it out when it lodged in her throat. That’s when the bleeding started.
See #18.
Michelle Malkin didn’t do her homework on this one.
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