I have been following this. A long-term care facility in New York has agreed to take her. The family believes that she is still alive. There was a quote a couple of weeks ago from a male relative. He was talking about how it would be different if Jahi looked different. I assume he meant that she didn't look deceased but didn't take into account that the machines were the ones keeping her body functioning even though her brain/brainstem weren't. After reading the letter her mother wrote what I assumed was wrong. They do realize the machines are doing the work that keeps her "alive."
I tried to find a quote regarding an author who wrote a book (paper, etc.?) on this kind of occurrence. I think he has had a big influence on the family and if I can find out who it is I will link to that. I don't know if he has had direct contact with the family. It appeared to be so, IIRC.
This is a letter her mother wrote trying to explain her position.
Quote:
I am a mother. She is my daughter. I am alive. Despite what they say, she is alive. I can touch her, she is warm. She responds to my touch. I can love her – I can feel her love. When she was in my belly I fell in love with her. Her heartbeat for the beginning of her life was my heartbeat until God, through a miracle, sparked her heart into existence. Given time, I know he will spark her brain awake.
She is Jahi, a name that means known by many. If she knew about all this attention she would blush. She is very shy.
My daughter sits on life support. I feel like she is on death row. The clock is ticking — ticking down. Children’s Hospital Oakland says she is dead. She was not dead when I brought her here on December 9th for a routine tonsillectomy. I put her in their hands, now they want to wash their hands of her.
Jahi had an operation. I was told it went well. Then she started bleeding from her mouth. They gave me a cup for her to bleed into and said it was normal. She bled more and more. I couldn’t keep up with it. I asked for help, they gave me a bigger bucket. She bled more. They did not answer our pleas for a doctor. Her surgeon never came back. She had a heart attack and her heart stopped beating. Then they came — then. They shocked her back into life. Now they say she is dead.
Before the surgery she said I am scared mommy. I said why Jahi? She said I am afraid I won’t wake up. I told her it was going to be fine, it was a simple procedure. I should have listened to her.
She is on a respirator — with air she lives, her heart beats, her kidneys produce urine, she is warm and soft. They have been pressuring me to “pull the plug.” I can’t. I won’t. I can’t let them kill my baby a second time.
I am fighting for her life. Each breath the vent gives her one more chance to live and gets her one step closer to the hospital’s deadline. What a word. I never thought they could tell me, her mother, they were going to pull the plug, take her body to the morgue and send us home on Christmas while she lays in a freezer. She is warm now. I want my baby to be warm. We need time.
The Hospital says she is legally dead. That they can legally stop her breathing. I am not a lawyer. We called many in the middle of the night Monday as they were coming to unplug her Tuesday night. One answered the call. We stopped them. Every day is a struggle. We fight for Jahi. We have a temporary restraining order until Monday – then the Judge can say my baby is legally dead and Children’s can unplug her. It doesn’t matter what I say. I never thought I would have to go to court to get a hospital to treat my child.
Hold your children tight. Tell them you love them. I tell my daughter over and over. I know she can hear me. If she has any brain activity when they do the independent tests she will be kept alive. Pray for my daughter Jahi, pray that she will get better so they don’t kill her. Pray for me, mothers, that my love can bring her life once more.
http://newsone.com/2817289/jahi-mcmath- ... en-letter/I think she feels guilty for being nonchalant about the surgery with her daughter being afraid of it. She appears to be deeply religious.
There was also a good article on this scientific/religion collide in the WSJ written by Brendan Foht.
Quote:
To Nailah Winkfield, Jahi's mother, the insistence by doctors that her child has already died clashes with her belief that, in God's eyes, as long as her child's heart is beating, Jahi is still alive. As family members search for another facility to care for her, they have also pursued a legal battle to stop doctors from removing the ventilator that keeps her breathing. The family argues that the hospital's decision to declare Jahi dead is a violation of Ms. Winkfield's religious freedom....
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 0047481758I don't understand what Ms. Winkfield's religious freedom has to do with her daughter. I can see it if it was to Winkfield directly rather than through her heir. But as noted, I am not huge on God. The one thing I couldn't help but to notice is that she never referred to her daughter in past tense.
IMO, sad and tragic. With every surgery there are risks involved. Much talked about risks that never seem to register until the unthinkable happens. When her mother talks about how the doctors didn't care, I got the feeling that, given gravity of the situation,
any medical personnel wouldn't be able to do enough to help that young girl in the eyes of her family.
I wish that her family could remember her more for the beautiful smile she had instead of the lasting memories of this fight and Jahi on tubes/ventilator, etc. when the future intercedes and her heart ceases to beat.