ET on Monday. During a news conference held Tuesday at the San Francisco office of her pro bono lawyer, Christopher Dolan, Nailah Winkfield insisted the doctors would have fought harder to save Jahi had she been white. Nailah Winkfield said doctors declared her daughter Jahi McMath dead on June 22 from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to treat an intestinal issue. After surgery she was alert and sitting up in bed, chatting with her family. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Jahis case gained worldwide attention after her family refused to take her off life-support machines, declining to accept numerous doctors determinations that she was brain-dead. He arrived at our institution with an intentional suffocation injury and was admitted to the ICU for multisystem organ failure and an anoxic brain injury. (Dan Honda/Staff), Jahi McMath, 13, who went to Children's Hospital Oakland for a three-part surgery to remove her tonsils and clear tissue from her nose and throat in December 2013, was declared brain-dead after complications post surgery. Copyright 2020 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, This site uses cookies. Reems Academy on MacArthur Boulevard. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. McMaths case drew national attention amid the debate over brain death and religious beliefs. Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old girl on a ventilator who was declared brain dead by doctors in California after tonsil surgery, was released from a hospital. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Jahi McMath, 13 . But shortly before Jahi could have been cut off, that same judge extended his . [32][33], On December 24, 2013, Judge Grillo ruled that McMath was legally dead,[34] basing his decision on the medical evidence presented by physicians from Children's Hospital Oakland and from independent expert Paul Fisher, but ruled to require the hospital to continue mechanical ventilation until December 30, 2013,[32] later extending this order until January 7, 2014. How could life support, as they understood his ventilator to be, support a dead body? Matthias Gafni is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group. [28][29][30] The court denied that request. Dozens of mourners streamed into Acts Full Gospel Church to memorialize the Oakland teen whose throat surgery gone awry inspired the latest national debate over the meaning of death. Anoxic brain injury occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen. Photographs displayed on the altar showed Jahi as a little girl, with round cheeks and a saucy ponytail. This week, the McMath family gave a special thanks to their attorney, Christopher Dolan, for fighting for Jahi as if she was his child. Jahi underwent tonsil surgery at Children's Hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. Pediatrics August 2020; 146 (Supplement_1): S81S85. However, time is not enough. Her family disagreed with the declaration. They will also recall those of us who did or did not see the humanity of their child as they navigated this journey. My wish is that she will get some laws changed, Winkfield said about her daughter. In this case-based narrative discussion we consider the complexity of the family experience of brain death. Rumor has it that they smuggled a cheeseburger into the ICU and fed it to Jahi because she was hungry - this is of course absolutely contraindicated after such surgery. She said her Christian beliefs compelled her to fight for continued care for her daughter, who she said showed signs of life through toe wriggles and finger movements. In response, I will present a case from my own practice. Their ability to process new changes and trust diagnoses was clouded by those memories, and their resolve to fight was strengthened by their history. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The author has indicated she has no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. Potentially. May 3, 2021 5:26 PM. Nearly five years after being declared brain-dead and placed on a ventilator at the insistence of a devoted mother who maintained she . Jahi McMath and the Ethics of the Brain D eath Standard . Shortly after the Supreme Court refused to hear Schiavos case in 2005, a judge ordered that her feeding tube be removed. Jahis stepfather, Marvin Winkfield, originally was a plaintiff in the first lawsuit, but the judge ruled he had no legal standing. It is graphic, be warned. Back to home page. Jahi McMath was a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead on December 12, 2013, after a hemorrhagic complication following complex oropharyngeal surgery. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. She died at home surrounded by her mother, Nailah Winkfield, stepfather Marvin Winkfield and sister, according to the statement. Severe brain injury and brain death is a tragedy. The idea that a family could dispute what, in the view of some, is a definitive medical diagnosis is unfathomable to many clinicians,3 but it is increasingly common in my practice as a palliative care provider. [21] On December 9, 2013, McMath suffered massive blood loss and consequent cardiac arrest. Milton has been left out as the father. The death certificate was incomplete, pending an autopsy to determine cause of death. The site is secure. Accessibility Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. After the surgeries were performed, McMath was conscious and according to her mother, Latasha "Nailah" Winkfield, asked for a Popsicle while in the recovery room. Her humanity should always be a central part of the discussion. [15], According to court documents,[16] McMath was admitted to Children's Hospital Oakland on December 9, 2013, for an adenotonsillectomy, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and submucous resection of bilateral inferior turbinates. (Courtesy of the McMath Family). [14] The family also claims that the hospital pressured them to donate McMath's organs. Dolan echoed those sentiments in his speech at the funeral, in which he recounted an emotional meeting between Jahis parents and the doctors at Childrens Hospital, days after Jahi was deemed brain-dead. The teen was undergoing tonsil surgery when she had significant blood loss and went into cardiac arrest on Dec. 9, 2013. "[13][54][55][56][58][59], In March 2015, McMath's family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Children's Hospital Oakland and Frederick Rosen, the surgeon who performed McMath's surgery. This led to a bioethical debate engendered by her family's rejection of the medicolegal findings of death in the case, and their efforts to maintain her body using mechanical ventilation and other measures. The discovery came months after three doctors, including one appointed by a judge, declared McMath brain-dead, and Alameda County issued a death certificate after her Dec. 9 sleep apnea surgery . Two lawsuits over the teens death are ongoing: a federal civil rights case to strike her 2013 death certificate and replace it with a new one issued June 22, and a malpractice case against Childrens Hospital Oakland over the tonsillectomy that her family said was done improperly. 5. Lessons from the Jahi McMath Case. Jahi McMath was a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead on December 12, 2013, after a hemorrhagic complication following complex oropharyngeal surgery. This was normal, the nurses in Children's Hospital Oakland told the 13-year-old girl's worried . Reading Jahis obituary to the crowd of mourners dressed in purple summer dresses and white boutonnieres, Johnson offered a vibrant portrait of the girl whose case pitted a deeply Christian family against what it said is a callous medical establishment. The Case of Jahi McMath: A Neurologist's View. This is a different debate entirely. The McMath Effect,7 the rejection of a brain death determination by families, has been written about in the years after her brain death determination. The doctors they are not God.2. CORRECTION (July 9, 2018, 5:03 p.m. This thread is archived . J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. appreciated. Terri Schiavo's Foundation Secretly Helping Jahi McMath. Id say no one is cashing in on a person still alive. Jahi McMath, 13, who went to Children's Hospital Oakland for a three-part surgery to remove her tonsils and clear tissue from her nose and throat in December 2013, was declared brain-dead after . She was a girl with a brain injury and she deserved to be cared for like any other child who had a brain injury.. No words were spoken. Hastings Cent Rep. 2018 Nov;48 Suppl 4:S74-S76. Children's Hospital Oakland maintained that the original diagnosis of brain death was correct and that the videos do not meet the diagnostic criteria for brain death. A Warner Bros. In January 2014, the hospital released the teen, and the family had her transferred to an undisclosed location for treatment and care. 11:16 AM EDT, Fri June 29, 2018, See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on. To Jahis mother, the years in New Jersey were both a hardship and a victory. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/what-does-it-mean-to-die, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Nearly-5-years-after-being-declared-dead-Oakland-13055330.php, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Family-says-Jahi-McMath-on-life-support-since-13035873.php, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/modern-day-slavery/201707/trauma-informed-care-and-why-it-matters, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/no-one-listening-us-lessons-jahi-mcmath-case/, https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/2018/09/04/mcmath-saga-shows-why-reporters-need-be-clear-when-covering-brain-death-cases, Copyright American Academy of Pediatrics. The family successfully got Jahi removed from the Oakland hospital by court order and moved her to New Jersey, where machines keep her organs functioning. California teenager Jahi McMath, who suffered catastrophic brain injury as a result of a routine tonsil surgery, died on June 22, 2018.. She sold her house in Oakland and quit her job to care for Jahi, who she said could move her fingers in response to commands and even began menstruating. [15][63], Dolan stated that he intends to continue his pro bono case to have McMath's California death certificate revoked and her date of death established as June 22, 2018. Careers. NOTE: If you have not heard the story of Jahi McMath, I've posted several updates including her full story here, here, here, and here. Milton McMath, who was largely estranged from Jahi before her fateful surgery, filed the lawsuit Wednesday, exactly two years after his 13-year-old daughter had nose and throat surgery at UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oakland to treat sleep apnea. [43], This case has prompted some commentators to discuss the futility of life support in such cases and even refer to it as "death support". Instead, we emphasized that medical teams ask us to meet families so that we can be a more neutral-sounding board for all of the medical information, dialogue with them as their understanding evolves, and be a bridge between the family and the medical team. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni. Jahi McMath is brain dead after going into surgery to have her tonsils removed. [40][41][42] The family moved the girl to an undisclosed location where a tracheostomy was performed and a feeding tube was inserted. Trauma-informed care and why it matters: how were falling short in treating trauma victims and what we can do to fix it. The case of Jahi McMath, the Oakland, Calif., 13-year-old who went into cardiac arrest after a tonsillectomy and is now attached to a ventilator, is raising challenging ethical and medical issues . Once, a family whom I met while their child was on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at the age of 19 recalled the misguided efforts to place their child in foster care while she was in the NICU and the trauma that remained. Nailah Winkfield leaves a funeral for her daughter Jahi McMath on Friday, July 6, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. I have thought about Jonathan and Tara and the other families that I have met along their journey to understanding and accepting brain death. According to McMath's doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland, the loss of blood circulation caused whole brain death. The painful reality is that my personal and professional experiences have reconfirmed the sense of hypervigilance that I see in many families that I support. In the following days, she no longer questioned the validity of the results of the examination but described what she saw: her son, who looked the same as he did on the day he arrived at our hospital. Its like they dont trust us, many people say. Mother had refused to accept her daughter was brain dead, but said the girl died after surgery last week. Winkfield said she is thankful for the last four years she had with her daughter and although her daughter could not talk to her, my daughter knew I was there and that I loved her, I knew she was there and that she loved me too., She said she left her job, sold her house and most of her belongings and cashed in her savings to be with her daughter in New Jersey since 2014. Her family sound like awful people. We all know what happened. The name Jahi means prominent, famous and widely known, and she definitely lived up to her name, said Wanda Johnson, a family friend and mother of Oscar Grant the 22-year-old man who was fatally shot by a BART police officer in 2009. Jahi McMath, the girl at the center of a medical and religious debate over brain death, was declared dead by doctors after surgery in New Jersey, her mother said Thursday. With these questions in mind, I return to the words of those closest to Jahi: her family. I first learned about Jahi McMath as her story was unfolding in the news. [46] Public confusion surrounding differences between brain death and cardiac death raised by this case led some doctors to voice concern about how the case could affect live organ recovery from brain dead patients. When Jahi McMath was declared brain-dead by the hospital, her family disagreed. McMath's mother stated she was honored to receive the award and referred to her daughter as still asleep, clarifying that she does not use the phrase "brain dead" to refer to her daughter. A coroner signed a death certificate. Truly Reconciling the Case of Jahi McMath. 32, reveals she's undergone her NINTH breast reconstruction surgery to fix the 'botched' reduction she had at 19 She went into cardiac arrest and was declared brain-dead, over objections from her mother and stepfather. Attorney Chris Dolan said the New Jersey death certificate eliminated that argument, but he and Winkfield are still debating whether to continue the fight and possibly set a precedent so other religious families dont have to go through the same situation. She is his daughter, and its more than just by name.. Instead of beginning with less invasive approaches, such as prescribing a CPAP machine to facilitate breathing while asleep, an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon . . They've kind of exploited her case for donations and publicity for years though, attempting to have the original death certificate rescinded so they can get more money in a wrongful death/malpractice lawsuit. I have wondered how ICU and neurology clinicians who walk with families facing this diagnosis far more frequently than I do felt when asked to effectively avoid the topic. "[32], On December 30, 2013, the family appealed the decision to the Second District, California Courts of Appeal[31] and the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, calling for the hospital to continue life support measures until other arrangements could be made by the family for the girl's care. Her parents considered these measures to constitute life support, while her . Jahi McMath, the Oakland teen whose brain-death on Dec 12, 2013 in Oakland, Alameda County, California, captivated the world while machines kept her breathing, was finally removed from those machines on June 22 in New Jersey after suffering from internal bleeding and kidney issues, her family and attorney said Thursday. The family of Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead after a tonsillectomy last December, say they have proof she's alive. [36] Byrne stated in court documents that he witnessed McMath moving in the hospital and that he considered her to be alive. A hundred press accounts have described the procedure McMath underwent as a "routine tonsillectomy." [] Her grandmother, Sandra, asked, If the hospital had been more compassionate, would we have fought so much?6. ", "McMath attorney: Jahi's family aren't fools; they deserve better than ignorant attacks", "A Tragedy Compounded: The Heart-Wrenching Case of Jahi McMath May Have Devastating Consequences to Organ Donation", "How an Outdated California Law Is Impacting the Jahi McMath Case", "Jahi McMath's family to get award from Terri Schiavo foundation", "Jahi McMath's Family to Be Honored by Terri Schiavo Network", "Jahi McMath being kept at New Jersey hospital", "13-Year-Old Jahi McMath Moved To New Jersey Hospital, Lawyer Says Condition Improving", "Why Jahi McMath's Mom Is Sure Her Daughter Isn't Brain Dead", "Doctor: No evidence of life in brain-dead girl", "Stanford doctor who examined Jahi McMath last year sticks by diagnosis that she is brain-dead", "Jahi McMath hearing postponed after doctor's determination", "Family seeks medical consensus for California girl declared brain dead", "New Documentation presented by Jahi's Attorney is not enough, says Dr. Paul Fisher", "Teen's case adds to debate over brain death", "Family of Jahi McMath sues doctor, Oakland hospital over brain damage", "Family of N.J. girl declared dead files malpractice suit claiming hospital pressured them for organs", "Judge weighs in on whether Jahi McMath is brain dead", "Jahi McMath death could have costly implications in civil case against hospital, doctors", Areas of persisting controversy in brain death, "What Does It Mean to Die?