Brain dead 13 year old, not brain dead?

[ShoeDiva]

Do you remember this whole story? 13 year old girl went in for routine surgery, hospital declares her brain dead, parents fight in court, they issue a death certificate, but let her take the girl to another hospital.

"After weeks of intense litigation, a deal was brokered in the U.S. District Court in Oakland whereby Jahi’s mother, Nailah, was allowed to remove Jahi from Children’s. As part of the proceedings, Alameda Superior Court Judge Emilio Grillo ruled that Children’s did not have to keep Jahi on a ventilator because, pursuant to California’s brain death statute, Health and Safety Code Section 7180 & 7181, Jahi was legally “brain dead,” meaning total and irreversible loss of brain function including the brain stem. Medical experts, including those from Children’s Hospital, said that Jahi’s organs would shut down and her brain would liquefy."

The update: She is moving on command? "Tests and examinations of Jahi have been performed at Rutgers University in New Jersey with brain researchers and neurologists reviewing and performing them, Dolan said. Those working with the International Brain Research Foundation include Elena Labkovsky, who performed an EEG on Jahi, Cuban neurologist Dr. Calixto Machado and Dr. Charles Prestigiacomo, chair of the department of neurological surgery at Rutgers.

According to DeFina, an MRI shows Jahi’s brain is intact and that there is blood flow to it, which does not fit the criteria for brain death."


http://newsone.com/3058733/shes-alive-jahi-mcmath-calif-girl-declared-brain-dead-moves-on-command?omcamp=sf_N1FB


What do you all think? I do not know what to think!

 

[mei lan]

I think it's a fantastic development. I have always had a problem with the whole brain-dead-vegetable diagnosis...we know SO little about the brain and yet BAM we say eh they're gone and we're not even gonna try to improve them. My nephew was diagnosed by doctors at a teaching hospital as having no hope of recovery after a traumatic brain injury. Shepherd said we don't think so. Three days after arrival at Shepherd, nephew was well on his way in coming out of the coma and six weeks later he walked out of the hospital under his own power. Finished high school on time even with missing a semester due to pt, etc.

I'm very interested in this case and am thrilled for her parents.

 

[lotstodo]

Without blood the brain dies. We know that. That is irreversible. Period. So obviously, someone is incorrect here, either the Oakland Hospital or the people conducting the current study. I also note the absence of any prognosis by the current study group, the leader of whom was kicked out of his last clinical job and whom came within a gnats butt of losing his medical license. If a valid accurate profusion test was done on that child, and it indeed showed no blood flow to the brain, and an EEG was also done showing no electrical activity, the child was clinically brain dead. That is an irreversible condition with no hope of recovery. It is not at all uncommon for "brain dead" people to have involuntary movement that appears to be on command, and brain stem activity is not completely uncommon, so that is out as a sign of life. It is also possible that a small portion of the brain was receiving enough blood to cause the appearance of "life", but that child has absolutely no hope of anything approaching a meaningful recovery if the initial diagnosis was anywhere near accurate. What is happening to that child now amounts to cruel and inhuman punishment, JMHO.

 

[ShoeDiva]

Without blood the brain dies. We know that. That is irreversible. Period. So obviously, someone is incorrect here, either the Oakland Hospital or the people conducting the current study. I also note the absence of any prognosis by the current study group, the leader of whom was kicked out of his last clinical job and whom came within a gnats butt of losing his medical license. If a valid accurate profusion test was done on that child, and it indeed showed no blood flow to the brain, and an EEG was also done showing no electrical activity, the child was clinically brain dead. That is an irreversible condition with no hope of recovery. It is not at all uncommon for "brain dead" people to have involuntary movement that appears to be on command, and brain stem activity is not completely uncommon, so that is out as a sign of life. It is also possible that a small portion of the brain was receiving enough blood to cause the appearance of "life", but that child has absolutely no hope of anything approaching a meaningful recovery if the initial diagnosis was anywhere near accurate. What is happening to that child now amounts to cruel and inhuman punishment, JMHO.

I understand the hesitation regarding DeFina's new diagnosis because he has been in trouble, but it states he is working with Rutgers and the International Brain Foundation, so I would think that by using their names they are in agreement. :dunno

I really just do not know. My concern is that the original doctors were so adamant there was no life, no blood flow, and her brain would liquify the parents had to fight to move her and the doctors had a death certificate issued, yet now something else is being said by another set of doctors. It wasn't overnight, it has been quite a while so I do not think it is someone jumping on this bandwagon, but what if they are right? That is what scares me, the small chance that this girl is not dead, though declared. I do understand that even if she is not, the odds of full brain function are slim to none, but the issue that there is a question on whether she is brain dead or not bothers me.

 

[lotstodo]

Re: Brain dead 13 year old, not brain dead?

If the court reverses the finding of death (which it won't based upon a video and statement by Dolan and DeFina) then the girl would automatically become eligible for payment of her medical bills by the State of California. There's motive.

Rutgers is the scene of the crime, bit they have not made any statement as to the accuracy of DeFina's claim. There is probably a very good reason for that.

 

[ShoeDiva]

Re: Brain dead 13 year old, not brain dead?

If the court reverses the finding of death (which it won't based upon a video and statement by Dolan and DeFina) then the girl would automatically become eligible for payment of her medical bills by the State of California. There's motive.

Rutgers is the scene of the crime, bit they have not made any statement as to the accuracy of DeFina's claim. There is probably a very good reason for that.

Gotcha.


Part of me wants it to be true, while the other does not. It is very complicated when you look at it from the perspective of being a parent (as I am looking at it, I can not state for others) and thinking, what if this was my child? I just really do not know what I would do or want at this point, or if I would have come to this point. It is really just so sad.

 

[naturegirl]

They wanted to pull the plug on Sungoddess' son, she refused. While not back 100%, he's still around talking, thinking, doing physical therapy and living his life the best he can. He may or may not regain the use of his whole body but he's living proof doctors can be wrong!!