I am pinging you all because I had promised to write a response in the other thread, but got caught up in a lot of other stuff and simply did not have the time. Then this thread came up, reminding me of my earlier promise.
Brain death is death. There are only two cases recorded, ever, of death reversing itself, and they both occurred thousands of years ago for divine reasons. I seriously doubt that Jahi is miraculously going to become the third person in history to come back from true death.
In October 2014, that crooked lawyer Dolan presented an MRI scan that purported to show Jahi’s brain intact and functional. It showed, rather, that any remaining brain tissue is fragmented and that key areas of the brain simply do not exist any more. The thalamus, cerebellum, brain stem, etc., were completely gone and all that remains are fragments of the cerebrum. The fact that some fragments of the dead tissue remains is not surprising. While enzymatic action does break down dead tissue, the enzymes do stop working after a while. Dead tissue that is retained within the body where microorganisms cannot reach it becomes a rather rubbery substance over time; it appears that what is left of Jahi’s brain has taken on that characteristic.
Frankly, I am surprised that Dolan is trying this again. I thought after experts tore apart his last attempt at getting Jahi’s death certificate invalidated, he would not try this again, but apparently he did not give up. The fact that the body has been maintained for all this time does not mean she is alive; it only means that the decay process is not proceeding and that enough nourishment is being pushed into her veins to support her heart, which will continue to beat as long as it receives nutrition and oxygen. I do not know what his game is; it is perhaps publicity meant to bring in donations, and there is no serious lawsuit being filed (Dolan has no chance of winning such a suit).
Soon after Jahi died, her family posted videos of her displaying the Lazarus sign or syndrome—where reflexes characteristic of a dead person can still occur. None of those videos have been posted for over a year. Some of the videos and pictures they posted to Facebook showed areas of necrosis (dead tissue), notably around the eyes and on the fingers. Pictures of Jahi have become quite infrequent. The most recent picture of her, posted on Facebook in October, showed her propped up on a pillow against the wall, and rather than the sunglasses that covered her eyes in previous pictures, heart shaped bandages covered her eyes. That makes me wonder about the condition of her eyes—have they become completely necrotic?
Despite the occasional picture still being posted, the fact is that we have no way of knowing when any picture was actually taken. If there are date/time codes embedded in the Facebook pictures, it will take more computer expertise than I know to figure it out. We have no way of knowing where the body is now; for all we know, the heart has actually stopped and the body has been delivered to a morgue already.
I really dislike this whole situation. By confusing brain death with brain injury, a great disservice is being done to all people who are brain injured. Terry Schindler’s so-called husband got away with murdering her in part because too many people do not understand that difference. Death is an irreversible condition. Injury is not. Terry was brain injured, but alive. Jahi is brain dead.
The Facebook picture is here (you have to scroll down the page to find it): https://www.facebook.com/keepJahiMcmathonlifesupport/
Blog article from October, 2014, with embedded videos of Jahi displaying Lazarus sign and the MRI of the fragmented brain: http://www.docbastard.net/2014/10/jahi-mcmath-here-we-go-again.html
Image of a normal brain MRI: http://radiopaedia.org/cases/normal-midline-brain-mri
Merry Christmas!
You are rather avoiding the subject or changing it.
She was supposed to have rotted apart more than a year and a half ago.
You are ignoring that.
My problem has been with the dogmatism of the original posts, including yours.
Dogmatism which gas been proven wrong.
Please refer specifically to the posts of yours of two years ago which I referred you to.
Again, merry Christmas and kudos to you for responding when the most egregious posters of two years ago fully were too cowardly. You’re not.
Jahi will never recover....she’s gone. The body, what’s left of it that hasn’t decomposed , is being kept ‘artificially’ alive in the ways which you have written.
There is no comparison to Terri....entirely different situation.
Thank you for this. It helps me understand. I am sadly watching my parents’ brains, so beautiful, so smart, so kind and good, deteriorate. I know the last to go are the animal functions like movement, then breathing, and heartbeat.
I wish those parents would let ther daughter go. Or her body. I now see that this is not a Terri Schiavo case.