An independent second opinion on whether Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old girl who went in for tonsil surgery and came out brain dead, should be taken off life support will be announced by her family in a Northern California court today, the Associated Press reported.
McMath went in for a tonsillectomy to help with her sleeping apnea on Dec. 12. During the surgery, usually a "simple procedure," which the doctors claimed to be "complicated," she went into cardiac arrest leading her to bleed profusely, according to the AP. Doctors at the Children's Hospital in Oakland declared her brain dead after the surgery.
In a statement, the hospital claims the surgery was complicated and the hospital is investigating the cause of "this catastrophic outcome," according to the AP
In documents the hospital presented to the court on Friday, McMath was examined separately by a staff neurologist and the attending physician and was said to be brain dead in both exams, the AP reported. Both doctors reported McMath's entire brain, including the brain stem, were no longer functioning.
Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo granted the McMath family the choice of a second, independent opinion from a doctor unattached to the hospital because the family does not think the hospital's doctors are "sufficiently dependent," according to the family's attorney, the AP reported.
Grillo also ordered Children's Hospital to keep McMath on life support until further notice after the hospital said it is not their duty to keep Jahi on life support due to her irreversible condition in a court memorandum, according to the AP.
"Ms. McMath is dead," Children's Hospital said in the memo, the AP reported. "Children's is under no legal obligation to provide medical or other intervention for a deceased person."
Nailah Winkfield, Jahi's mother, said she believes her daughter will still wake up "despite what they say," according to the AP.
"I can touch her, she is warm. She responds to my touch," Winkfield said in an open letter Saturday, according to the AP. "Given time I know (God) will spark her brain awake."
