There is always hope.
Depends on how you define "hope". If someone is medically diagnosed as brain dead, there is no hope they will ever wake up. (Despite what David Byrne and the Schiavo Network, and some other extremist truth deniers may claim.) The family of Jahi McMath is learning that truth in the hardest way imaginable.
There is ALWAYS hope.
Hope has nothing to do with prognosis. It is a personal mindset. And it is available to everyone at all times. The only time it is not available is when you choose not to believe in it. I think it is a tool that is gravely underused in western medicine. JMO
Also, there has been so much misreporting. We have no idea what her condition is. There have been no official statements. Just rumours.
True, we do not have an official report of her condition. But we have numerous reports of CPR at the scene. IMO, if BK was not brain dead, we would have reports from the family to that fact. What we do have is "grim" reports, reports of family being notified that "nothing more can be done", etc.
As to "hope", I agree that it is all in how you define "hope", as I originally said. Hope that family will be able to travel to be together to say goodbye, hope that everyone will be able to manage their grief in a manner that they can go on to live a healthy life and is not crippling for her loved ones, hope that BK did not suffer, and "is not" suffering, hope in the hereafter, hope that the family can handle the withdrawal of support in a manner that brings them the most amount of possible comfort, hope that BKs brief life and inner and outer beauty is not forgotten in the midst of her final hours, etc. Hope that authorities discover the truth about what really happened to take this young life. That is not false hope, but realistic hope, IMO.
Hope is all in how one defines it. But if loved ones engage in unrealistic and false hope, hope that someone brain dead will not just survive as a functionally decapitated body, but wake up and live again-- then that is a very sad and crippling set of circumstances for anyone to bear.
Jahi McMath's mother and family (and supporters) are apparently still convinced that Jahi is "healing", and will "wake up" at some point. A cruel delusion, fueled by love, and fear, and grief. I have a sense how that will end for them, but they aren't ready yet to let go.
So if one defines "hope" for a brain dead loved one as "hoping" to maintain them on machines and perpetual care, while denying that the "person" is gone, and "hoping" they will eventually wake up, then that kind of hope is a cruel prison, indeed.