We continue our prayers for 13-year-old Jahi McMath and her family during this tragic event and difficult times.
Officials at Children’s Hospital Oakland have said that they will keep the 13-year-old who was declared legally brain dead on life support indefinitely after protests from the girl’s family. Reports indicate that the parents of Jahi were preparing to file a request for a cease-and-desist order Tuesday after officials had said they planned to remove the teen from life support the day before.
McMath went into cardiac arrest Thursday after having trouble breathing and suffering from sever bleeding due to complications from a December 9th tonsillectomy which was performed to try to cure a sleep apnea problem.
Medical staff say that McMath’s heart is beating and she is being kept alive by a ventilator, but she has been declared legally brain dead. Medical ethicists said that brain death means “legally dead,” and no one is required to keep a dead body on a ventilator. The American Academy of Neurology guidelines require only one bedside exam to determine whether or not a patient is brain dead but under California law, declaring a patient brain dead requires two separate sets of tests by two different doctors which have to be completed at least 3 hours apart.
McMath’s family has vowed that they will go to court to try to get an injunction if the hospital tries to remove Jahi from the ventilator and her feeding tube.
Please keep this family in your prayers.
You can read my original report on this by clicking here: https://fggam.org/13-year-old-to-be-taken-off-life-support-after-being-declared-brain-dead-following-tonsil-surgery/