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Posted: 10/01/2014 05:21:32 PM PDT2 Comments | Updated: about 2 hours agoJahi McMath: Family seeks to have brain-death ruling overturned, girl declared alive
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_26644996/jahi-mcmath-family-seeks-have-brain-death-ruling
OAKLAND -- An attorney for the family of Jahi McMath says new tests show the 13-year-old girl has regained brain activity, and he is asking a Bay Area court to take the unprecedented step of reversing its finding that she is dead.
In court documents filed Tuesday, attorney Christopher Dolan challenges long-standing medical and legal definitions of death on behalf of the Oakland girl, who has been kept on machines that feed her and keep her organs functioning since a medical mishap in December.
Experts say Jahi's recovery would be nothing short of a miracle. Unlike a coma, brain death is the loss of all brain function, an irreversible and universally accepted form of death. Jahi would be the first known person to regain consciousness after a declaration of brain death, experts say.
"It's the only case of its kind ever," Dolan said by phone Wednesday. "Jahi is 'Patient 1.' This is a real person we are talking about, a live person who feels pain. She isn't suffering."
A test last year performed by a court-appointed physician from Stanford showed no brain activity because of the swelling of her brain, according to the court papers. The swelling has receded, Dolan says, and the new tests show something different.
Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University's School of Medicine, said any recovery from brain death would be a first and in this case "miraculous since she was declared dead three times."
"This would force us to re-examine the whole nature of death in America," Caplan said. "But I don't believe it."
Attorneys for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, where Jahi was first treated, have filed documents asserting that "there are no substantive grounds and no available procedures for any challenge" to the court's finding that Jahi is brain dead.
The new court filings are the first major development in Jahi's story in months.
More articles as the story is picked up:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking...i-mcmath-family-seeks-have-brain-death-ruling
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matie...s-family-wants-her-declared-alive-5795112.php
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...math-petitioning-to-haver-her-declared-alive/
The family planned a press conference for Friday when they plan to provide evidence that Jahi is not brain dead.
If anyone finds out more info about the Friday press conference, please post it.