Update: Jahi McMath's Family Will Be Seeking Brain Injury Wording In Hopes of Brain Death Reversal Diagnosis (1289 hits)
The family of teen Jahi McMath, who was once ruled as ‘brain dead’, have released videos which they say prove she’s still alive. In the two clips released on Friday, the 13-year-old is seen lying in her bed at a New Jersey hospital, moving on command. McMath’s family have been fighting with the state of California ever since December, when the girl was declared brain-dead following a routine tonsil surgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California.
READ: What Does It Mean To Be “Brain Dead”?
The family’s attorney, Christopher Dolan, says experts are wiling to testify that Jahi’s MRI shows sign of some brain activity.
In one of the two clips shared by the family’s law firm, her mother asks her to move her arm, and the girl’s hand grips an object before relaxing.
See below:
“There’s a difference between being brain-damaged and between being brain-dead,” Dolan said. The family will present their case in front of a California judge on October 9.
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But wait, there’s more!
Dr. Alan Shewmon, professor emeritus in neurology at UCLA. He is a world renowned expert on the brain, particularly dealing with pediatrics stated in a declaration under penalty of perjury that Shewmon signed on October 3, 2014, testifying that Jahi McMath is not only alive, but now also awake! From his declaration (my emphases):
Based on the materials provided to me so far, I can assert unequivocally that Jahi currently does not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for brain death. The materials include extensive medical records from St. Peter’s University Hospital, which I am still in the process of reviewing, videos of Jahi moving her hand and her foot in response to verbal requests by her mother, images from an EEG done in her apartment on 9/1/14, images of a brain MRI scan done at Rutgers on 9/26/20-14, and heart rate variability analysis by my colleague Dr. Calizto Machado based on the EKG channel from 9/1/14 EEG.
If they win the case, and the death certificate is reversed, Jahi’s family will be able to move her back to California where her care would be provided at state taxpayer’s expense.
