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Doctors Said She’s “Brain Dead” But She’s Still Alive, Now They Won’t Reverse...
Life News ^ | Dec 23, 2015 | Wesley Smith

Posted on 12/24/2015 6:52:06 PM PST by kathsua

As the state court has permitted Jahi McMath’s mother to present evidence from a doctor who has examined Jahi and believes she does not meet brain death criteria, lawyer Christopher Dolan is making a federal case out of it. From his press release:

After exhausting all available avenues to work with the State Department of Vital Statistics, Alameda County Department of Public Health, County Coroner’s Office and County Counsel, to have Jahi McMath’s incomplete, and invalid death certificate (not even signed by an attesting physician) rescinded, and her basic human rights restored…

The suit requests that the Federal Court order restoration of Jahi McMath’s fundamental Constitutional rights and declare that she is not brain dead as per the criteria established under California Law.

The lawsuit also seeks to have the Court deem unconstitutional the brain death statute as it provides no mechanism by which evidence can be presented that the original determination of brain death is no longer valid in the face of significant scientific and medical evidence of brain function like that currently demonstrated by Jahi McMath.

That last bit seems a potentially winning argument to me regardless of Jahi’s condition.

I believe in brain death and once thought Jahi was certainly dead–to the great irritation of many who usually agree with my positions.

But I also wrote that my eyebrow would raise if her body didn’t deteriorate as usually happens pretty quickly in brain death cases.

Now, two years later, Jahi has not deteriorated–not unprecedented, but rare–and a prominent neurologist who I know and trust has personally examined her, believes she no longer meets brain dead criteria. My eyebrows are past the crown of my head!

I think the proper course here is for there to be a full-bore, transparent reopening of this case.

If Jahi is not dead, she deserves it.

Please support LifeNews and our pro-life news with a year-end donation!

So does neurological science, because if her brain function has indeed reversed from “dead” to “profoundly disabled,” it is unprecedented and requires intense study.

So does the integrity of the system. No one should be forced to stay dead if facts on the ground change. Moreover, if the facts have not changed, it is important for the public to know.

Let me be clear. I am not saying she is alive. But I am saying there is sufficient doubt to warrant another hard look. And I don’t understand why some are so angrily and emotionally invested in her being dead.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: braindead; prolife
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Does anyone expect doctors to admit mistakes.
1 posted on 12/24/2015 6:52:06 PM PST by kathsua
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To: kathsua

This person is not alive. Machines are keeping ‘her’ going


2 posted on 12/24/2015 6:54:18 PM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: kathsua

Does anyone expect doctors to admit mistakes.

No. Unfortunately, I’ve learned this all too well.


3 posted on 12/24/2015 6:57:56 PM PST by boycott (--)
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To: Nifster

There must be something there.


4 posted on 12/24/2015 6:59:27 PM PST by Bodleian_Girl (I would die before I worshipped the Muslim god. Why do you do so willingly?)
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To: kathsua

On some show I heard that they asked a rabbi when life ends?
He answered, ‘when there is no more breath’. So if they take a person off of life support and they cannot breath on their own just let them die. Now someone like Terri Schiavo was medically murdered because she did breath just fine.


5 posted on 12/24/2015 7:06:40 PM PST by tflabo
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To: kathsua





6 posted on 12/24/2015 7:08:27 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! I reallyRead it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: tflabo
Now someone like Terri Schiavo was medically murdered because she did breath just fine.

Terri's nurses stated in avadavat's that she could also swallow food but her loving husband had forbidden it. Judge Greer agreed with Michael, and said no attempt to fed her was permissible.

7 posted on 12/24/2015 7:18:18 PM PST by Karl Spooner
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To: Bodleian_Girl

Just because your body is working does not mean that your mind is there.


8 posted on 12/24/2015 7:57:29 PM PST by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: tflabo

Machines are keeping her going. Take away the machines and they’ll stop breathing.


9 posted on 12/24/2015 7:58:29 PM PST by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: kathsua

“No one should be forced to stay dead if facts on the ground change.”

That right there is a wonder. Merry Christmas!


10 posted on 12/24/2015 8:00:02 PM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: Karl Spooner

Few seemed to be concerned that Michael contributed to Judge Greer’s election campaign.

Jeb! and his brother talked big about wanting to save her and both cowarded out.


11 posted on 12/24/2015 8:00:04 PM PST by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: Karl Spooner

Schiavo was unsuccessful as a murderer, so he had to have Jeb Bush, Greer, and the insurance take chunks out of her, bit by bit and pound by pound.

That first hit was pretty good though. Sorry the deputy never did investigate the crime. The metal plates in the head sealed it.

So. Now, he has Terri, all bottled up, and on private land.

I hope I am alive and able to travel to wherever he gets buried.


12 posted on 12/24/2015 8:03:16 PM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: FreedomStar3028
Just because your body is working does not mean that your mind is there.

Like your average leftist?

13 posted on 12/24/2015 8:04:13 PM PST by uglybiker (nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-BATMAN!)
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To: FreedomStar3028

At some point, the family has to ask themselves, “Is this any way for a teenage girl to “live”,biologic functions only, not a speck of a sentient being left? I say no, this is not any way for her to spend the next 65 years.


14 posted on 12/24/2015 8:47:33 PM PST by lee martell
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To: treetopsandroofs

jeb did try to save her, look it up if you care to know what happened.


15 posted on 12/24/2015 8:59:44 PM PST by tenthirteen
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To: FreedomStar3028

I can agree with that.

However, I have seen a real brain dead person and they were kept on life support for about 3 days but you could tell the body was decomposing already by the smell.

So this girl has been going two years and she’s still more alive than a real brain dead person. In my opinion.


16 posted on 12/24/2015 9:18:29 PM PST by Bodleian_Girl (I would die before I worshipped the Muslim god. Why do you do so willingly?)
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To: kathsua; ifinnegan; exDemMom; wagglebee; BykrBayb

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


17 posted on 12/24/2015 9:38:35 PM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: tenthirteen

“jeb did try to save her, look it up if you care to know what happened.”

No he didn’t.

I remember it well, thank you.


18 posted on 12/24/2015 9:41:02 PM PST by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: exDemMom

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.


19 posted on 12/24/2015 9:49:59 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: kathsua

the death panels that the left swore didn’t exist strike again


20 posted on 12/24/2015 9:59:48 PM PST by Bob434
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