Add Category
Latest update ... Jahi McMath was declared brain dead two years ago but her mum says she is “as healthy as everâ€. Picture: Facebook
JAHI McMath’s parents have shared a new photo of their 15-year-old daughter two years after she was declared brain dead, saying she is “healthy as ever.â€
Jahi suffered a cardiac arrest following a routine operation to remove her tonsils in Oakland, California in December 2013 and was legally declared brain dead by three doctors.
Legal stoush ... Jahi McMath was declared brain dead two years ago. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied
However her family won a high-profile legal battle to keep their daughter’s life support machine turned on in 2014, despite a coroner issuing her death certificate.
She was released into the care of her mother Nailah Winkfield and other family members who agreed to be “wholly and exclusively responsible†for the teenager.
In a new update on Facebook, Ms Winkfield said her daughter was doing well.
“Jahi as healthy and beautiful as ever, proving the naysayers wrong,†she wrote. “A fighter, a warrior, a blessed child, Gods got your back little girl, keep fighting.’ (sic).
“Prayers going up from many, all the prayers, good wishes combined with your mothers love for you which is pure and soothing will definitely keep you going. Stay blessed everyone and thank you for your prayers and love,†she wrote.
Keeping up hope ... Jahi McMath’s mum won’t stop believing that her daughter will wake up. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied
Cardiac arrest ... Jahi McMath was a happy and healthy 13 year old. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied
Chris Dolan, the family’s lawyer, argued in 2014 that the teenager was no longer brain dead and that brain scans show electrical activity and that she responds to verbal commands from her mother.
However a recovery from brain death would be a medical first.
Children’s Hospital Oakland spokesman Sam Singer criticised the family’s decision to give Jahi nutrients to maintain her brain at optimum efficiency.
“This is a deceased young woman,†he told ABC 7. “No amount of food, medicine, medical machinery, time or hope is going to bring her back.
“So it’s really wrong and unethical for Mr Dolan to mislead the family and the public that there’s any amount of hope or any food that could possibly bring back this deceased young woman,†he said.