Jahi McMath: Judge extends order keeping girl on ventilator
Source: Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND -- An Alameda County judge extended an order keeping Jahi McMath on a ventilator Monday afternoon, forcing officials at Children's Hospital Oakland to keep the brain-dead 13-year-old girl on breathing support until 5 p.m. on Jan. 7 as an emotional battle over the girl's fate continued.
Omari Sealey, Jahi's uncle, confirmed the extension of a temporary restraining order that would have expired at 5 p.m. Monday, allowing hospital officials to take her off the ventilator. Sealey also said the family was making a furious last-ditch effort to keep the 13-year-old Oakland girl alive long enough to arrange to have her flown to a facility in New York, which they say has agreed to accept her for long-term care.
The order was extended by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, who had put the first order in place one week ago. Late Monday, the family's attorney also filed a new complaint with the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Shortly before 5 p.m., a state appeals court also issued a 24-hour stay, declaring that Jahi must remain on the ventilator through 5 p.m. Tuesday, until the court can hear the family's case.
Read more: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_24815775/jahi-mcmath-oakland-brain-dead-girl-could-be
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I understand how the parents would want to do everything. However, I hope the caviate is that they pay the entire bill.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I would agree that the hospital pay the first operation. The parents should have had her lose weight before surgery. I never heard of a child having sleep apnea.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)No matter how good you are, someday you are going to slip up, and someone will die or be messed up for life. You will be dead dog tired, you overlook something on the chart, dismiss a symptom important to a correct diagnosis, whatever. Lots of ways things can go wrong.
I am grateful to all the concerned, committed doctors, nurses, aides, orderlies, etc. for what they do. But I think you have to be crazy to be in the medical field. So much can go wrong - even if you do everything right.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Doctors are not mechanics, hospitals are not repair garages. One cannot just replace body panels, transmissions, engines, radiators, axles, brakes etc. with replacement parts and make a patient like new.
Human body is a complex system. Death or bad results can occur even with perfect care.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)and their lawyer, but that is not proof. That is only their interpretation of events, and that interpretation is by parents who are clearly delusional.
Due to HIPAA privacy laws, the hospital is unable to discuss what happened, not the details of the surgery, not even exactly what surgery was performed or why.
So there is no proof that the hospital is at fault for anything. No surgery is without risk and even "simple tonsillectomies" rarely can lead to hemmorrhage and death. It has been made public that this was not a "simple tonsillectomy."
The parents claim they were left to control their daughter's bleeding on their own. We do not know if that is true, or what instructions they were given.
Furthermore, the longer their daughter's body remains on the ventilator, the more any evidence of any mistakes will disappear.
In the meantime, tests have shown that there has been no blood flow into the brain for weeks now. What is left of her brain is irreversibly dead; with no blood flow to the brain there is absolutely no chance of God or Dr. Frankenstein "sparking her brain awake."
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)There is no "long term care" for a corpse.
The judge is nuts and not wanting to be the last word before the plug is pulled.
The family's lawyer is also an unethical ambulance chaser trying to maximize damages. He should focus on the existing malpractice case rather than try to pad up a damage award and advise the parents to go into grief counseling.
As tragic as the story is and as much as one feels for the parents, this will be ten times worse for them when the plug is finally pulled. A humane and compassionate person would counsel the parents and stop this daily heartbreak.
JNinWB
(250 posts)The determination of fault, if any, will be decided later when the family files suit.
But this young girl is dead and the family must come to terms with this truth and and bury her. No one survives brain death and forcing the hospital to maintain her on "life support" is macabre.
No reputable care facility (or physician) will agree to perform surgery on a dead body or agree to maintain the body indefinitely.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)And they need to start to feed the child. Hope she is well hydrated.
JNinWB
(250 posts)Turn off the machine and her organs will fail.
LisaL
(44,982 posts)Feed her? You do realize she can't swallow, do you?
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Nobody's home, nobody's coming home.
NYC Liberal
(20,138 posts)Archae
(46,373 posts)Well, that is what it looks like.
It wasn't until after Schiavo died, and had an autopsy, that the videos made by her parents were proven to be bogus.
For one thing, Schiavo's brain damage rendered her blind, so she couldn't see what she was "reacting to."
The "right-to-life" hucksters like Randall Terry will get into this as yet another fundraising stunt, as will grandstanding crass politicians like Bill Frist.
alp227
(32,075 posts)But I won't be surprised when Congress comes back for yet another big year of nothing and some crazy ass right wing Republican takes the floor and introduces a Save Jahi bill! Luckily the Bay Area has Democrats in all of its House districts, so the local politicians will be the sane ones on this issue.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)so her autonomous nervous system was mostly operational, she could breath on her own. Of course, the rest of her brain was more or less just gone, even Ants had more cognitive function than her. In the case of Jahi McMath, her body doesn't even have that much left, and requires machines just to keep the body breathing, the only nervous system still operating is the spinal cord and secondary autonomous system, which is brain independent, more or less.
TBF
(32,139 posts)so very, very sad.
They need to let her go and allow the family to process and have closure. And then they can file their lawsuit (which they should definitely explore).
RandySF
(59,697 posts)Dr. Paul A. Byrne is a neonatologist and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. He is past President of the Catholic Medical Association. He is the producer of the film Continuum of Life and the author of Life, Life Support and Death, Beyond Brain Death, and Brain Death is Not Death. Dr. Byrne has presented testimony on life-death issues to nine state legislatures beginning in 1967. He opposed Dr. Jack Kevorkian on Cross-Fire, and has appeared on Good Morning America, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary, Are the donors really dead?, and public Television in Japan. He is the author of many articles in medical and law journals and the lay press.
Dr. Byrne and his colleagues recently held a conference at the Vatican on this very subject. Video DVDs of the conference are available by mailing a request to the International Foundation for Genetic Research. See address below.
Dr. Byrne spends many spare waking moments in defense of those unable to communicate on their own behalf. He is available for speaking engagements and radio and television interviews at a very minimal, or donations only, cost to audiences and organizations around the country. This is a topic that the general public must continuously be made aware of before it happens to them.
http://www.truthaboutorgandonation.com/aboutdrbyrne.html
JI7
(89,287 posts)were those doctor's not allowed to give their say or something.
this is sad and people like this guy and probably the lawyer are just making things worse for the mother.
i think they should look into whether they should sue . but that's different from making the mother think her daughter will wake up.
i heard her daughter did not want to have the surgery and her mother may be feeling some guilt here.
RandySF
(59,697 posts)The court asked doctors from Stanford University to examine her and they said she poor girl is gone.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)In this saga of keeping a dead person going like a vegetable using life support, the following is evident:
Winners:
The family's lawyer.
The family's expert witness who will sell millions of books to religionazis.
The media.
Right wing right-to-life wackos.
Some unethical long term care facility.
Losers:
The deceased's family.
Dozen's of children who could use and could have used that ICU bed.
Reputable physicians whose judgment is questioned daily.
Science -- being mocked daily.
Taxpayers -- who will ultimately end up footing the bill.