<p>The family has previously said the surgery was to help fix Jahi’s sleep apnea."</p>
<p>With no intention of “blaming” the family, wouldn’t losing weight have accomplished much of the same goal? If so, after this situation, I imagine that doctors will now insist on that rather than such a surgery on an overweight child.</p>
<p>It’s reasonable to assume she had a number of health problems going on for some time. Yet, the familiy’s lawyer insists on calling it a routine tonsillectomy.</p>
<p>Sleep apnea in children is usually caused by obstructed airways, not necessarily being overweight. </p>
<p>I was a kid with ginormous tonsils. And no weight issues.</p>
<p>Surgery for sleep apnea is only moderately successful. I’m wondering if it was presented as a panacea, which may be contributing to the families difficulty in accepting that it was not.</p>
<p>Sleep apnea in children can be quite serious.
From a Stanford site:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Childhood</a> Sleep Apnea](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/childapnea.html]Childhood”>http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/childapnea.html)</p>
<p>m2ck - Regarding the Texas case, I think it’s an extraordinary stretch of the facts to say that the father and grandparents wanted this unborn fetus “dead.” I have no doubt they’d be overjoyed to have a healthy baby. It seems far more likely, however that this child will be catastrophically brain-damaged, and I can certainly understand that that’s an outcome they’d prefer to avoid.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this will give people pause before they rush to surgery for procedures that are not medically necessary. I always promote surgery as a last resort, but, sadly, many people want to rush right to the surgical option. It’s the instant gratification thing. Even routine surgery has death as a risk.</p>
<p>This article sheds some light onto the relationship between Jahi and her mom: [Jahi</a> McMath: A mother’s undeniable love is lost in divisive battle - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“Jahi McMath: A mother’s undeniable love is lost in divisive battle – The Mercury News”>Jahi McMath: A mother’s undeniable love is lost in divisive battle – The Mercury News) Amongst other things, it says
In other reports, they allude to staff negligence:
</p>
<p>Very sad situation. I feel for the mother…</p>
<p>My H, who used to be a pediatrician, said that apnea can be a cause of obesity, and that children often lost weight after surgery. That the tiredness caused over-eating. (to add from my own reading–lack of sleep has been in general linked to weight gain.)</p>
<p>I wish there would be more discussion of that. I’ve seen (on other sites), some pretty nasty comments about the mom, the daughter, and her weight.</p>
<p>According to this article, its probably a 2 way street [Vicious</a> cycle of sleep apnea and obesity in kids ? The Chart - CNN.com Blogs](<a href=“http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/17/vicious-cycle-of-sleep-apnea-and-obesity-in-kids/]Vicious”>http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/17/vicious-cycle-of-sleep-apnea-and-obesity-in-kids/) While sleep apnea in kids causes fatigue (and likely less physical activity) and hormonal changes that affect weight and appetite, the article also explains the increased problems with presentation of obesity in children in OSA.</p>
<p>yeah, I imagine that it becomes a feedback loop.</p>
<p>But, as in many cases of weight gain, it’s more complicated than the simple dismissal. I hope the mom doesn’t go through life feeling guilty about this. She has enough sadness to bear.</p>
<p>I had read earlier that Jahi did not want to get this procedure done. She believed something bad was going to happen. Of course, her mom told her she would be fine. If this is true, this alone would cloud any parents ability to see straight or hear anything except their child’s plea to not go through with this.</p>
<p>My heart goes out to everyone involved in this young ladies life and death.</p>
<p>That article was heartbreaking, jym.</p>
<p>Here’s another one that sheds some light on why the judge hearing the case might not want to be the one to make the decision about what death is and possibly set a precedent. I hadn’t thought of the case in relation to the issue of abortion but I can see why it is really not just about Jahi:</p>
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</p>
<p>This last part is telling, too. Clearly not everyone in this country believes in science. Or they only want to when it suits them. </p>
<p>[Jahi</a> McMath case: Does definition of ‘death’ need to be rethought? - CSMonitor.com](<a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/1231/Jahi-McMath-case-Does-definition-of-death-need-to-be-rethought]Jahi”>Jahi McMath case: Does definition of 'death' need to be rethought? - CSMonitor.com)</p>
<p>sax,
In fairness, many people, perhaps even most people- kids and adults alike, are apprehensive prior to surgery and express a desire to avoid it and worry about a bad outcome. Sure this adds to the mother’s guilt, sadly. But those comments are not unusual.</p>
<p>m2ck - Regarding the Texas case, I think it’s an extraordinary stretch of the facts to say that the father and grandparents wanted this unborn fetus “dead.”.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Are you serious? Imagine that you’re a 10 year old child and you discover all this crap went on surrounding your gestation and that your dad and grands wanted to pull the plug on mom which WOULD HAVE BEEN a death sentence for YOU. The child would think, “Dad and my grandparents didn’t want me to be born?? They wanted me to die with my mom???” </p>
<p>If you don’t think that a CHILD would feel horrible about that, you need to rethink!!!</p>
<p>* I have no doubt they’d be overjoyed to have a healthy baby. It seems far more likely, however that this child will be catastrophically brain-damaged, and I can certainly understand that that’s an outcome they’d prefer to avoid*</p>
<p>You don’t know this. From what’s been reported, there’s no evidence of that. Their “one note sally” claim has been that the mom wouldn’t have wanted to be on life support. They haven’t said, “Oh mom would want to be on life support if the baby would likely be born healthy.” No, their single desire is to have mom and baby dead. Period.</p>
<p>Now, I’m not saying that if the baby is born fine that they won’t embrace it. However, that’s not going to change the fact one iota that this child would learn about all of this and feel very sad.</p>
<p>I had read earlier that Jahi did not want to get this procedure done. She believed something bad was going to happen. Of course, her mom told her she would be fine. If this is true, this alone would cloud any parents ability to see straight or hear anything except their child’s plea to not go through with this.</p>
<p>While the mom’s words are ones that many of us would have likely have said, this would add to the guilt…especially when the procedure was elective. I do think that in hindsight, the mom is going to think that she should have explored weight loss methods. Even with tiredness from sleep apnea, some kind of weight loss program could have been implemented.</p>
<p>m2ck-
Thats over the top (posts 356/7). If the dad could be assured a “normal” child who would be able to understand this at age 10, its unlikely he would struggle with the feelings he did. He already said he couldnt financially manage the medical bills for his wife, and would be faced with a lifetime of challenge for a likely severely handicapped child. Its unlikely he expressed those feelings lightly, without input from physicians and others involved in the deceased wife’s care. Have some understanding for his perspective. How is this all that different from parents who elect to terminate a pregnancy when they find, after amnio, that the fetus has some significant genetic defect?</p>
<p>Some adopted kids also struggle with the feeling that their bio parents didn’t “want” them. These feelings are understandable, but your presumption that this child would be a healthy 10 year old and that someone would disclose to him/her or he/she’d be perusing the www to read about the tragic circumstances of his birth and that this would trump the 10 yrs of life with his surviving parent (who probably would have discussed the circumstances of his/her birth, if this child was able to understand it) seems to be purposefully argumentative. JMO</p>
<p>If the dad could be assured a “normal” child</p>
<p>lol…“assured a normal child”??? Heck, when a pregnancy has no issues at all there’s no assurance of a “normal child”.</p>
<p>And, sorry, I don’t agree that a child wouldn’t be very hurt to learn about all of this.</p>
<p>My BIL wanted my SIL to abort their 4th child because tests showed that the baby might have Downs. My SIL refused and the baby was born normal. My nephew knows about this and he’s angry at his dad.</p>