<p>For those thinking the absurdity of the situation could not reach new heights, here’s a report that Jahi’s high school will be awarding her a high school diploma. In what universe does this make any sense? Yes, they say that it’s an honorary degree, but even so…</p>
<p><a href=“Jahi McMath to receive diploma from her school as she remains on a ventilator | Daily Mail Online”>Jahi McMath to receive diploma from her school as she remains on a ventilator | Daily Mail Online;
<p>^#(^ wow…</p>
<p>I haven’t read the article, and yes, it sounds crazy…but I am not in her parents shoes. Who are probably grief AND guilt stricken. This girl will never learn to drive, never go to prom, graduate from high school, no dropping her at college, no first baby…nothing. Her mom has to watch her in a vegetative state for how many years? As all of her friends blossom into young adults. If it gives them some sense of peace, so be it…</p>
<p>Uhm, she is dead. She’s not in a vegetative state, at all. Actually, she’s probably very far from it by now. Brain dead is as dead as dead can be and if anyone’s watching that fact is likely quite apparent.This is disgraceful.</p>
<p>Yes, but again…who are we to judge? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? I will be dropping my daughter off at college soon, she just went to prom, etc…far be it from me to judge…some people aren’t as strong, aren’t as level headed. But then again, I have never walked in her mothers shoes. So I don’t know how I would react to be honest. I’d like to think that I could think rationally…but who knows. </p>
<p>Her mom doesn’t have to do anything. She should have buried the corpse months ago and moved on with her life. The whole thing is like a story by Kafka, where some performance artist pours salt in her wounds again and again, every day for eternity. </p>
<p>It is a sad story. I could argue that giving her the diploma, honorary or not, is kind of the parents clinging to the idea she is still alive and will recover someday and therefore is keeping them from accepting the loss and grieving and moving on. I hope that it gives them some sort of comfort and that instead of keeping them in denial, it helps them move forward. I can’t criticize parents, even though I firmly am on the side of those who are saying she is dead, from what I have read of the case most of her brain, like Terri Schiavo’s, is pretty much gone, the stroke was devastating, but I also can feel for them, given what I would feel if something happened to my own son. I don’t know what I would do in that case, i would like to think I could be rational, but I also wouldn’t say it was absolute, either. In a sense, I also think the facility that is ‘treating’ her is prolonging the parent’s grief, I can say a lot of things about modern medicine, but when it comes to things like brain death and death, this isn’t the 19th century, and when they say someone is brain dead, they are right almost 100% of the time. I have heard the miraculous recovery stories, I have heard how someone wasn’t supposed to come back, but those generally were vegetative state, not brain dead, and many of them happened decades ago and the patient may not have been evaluated for years IME, so it could be the original diagnoses 20 or 30 years ago was wrong. With all the equipment we have now, CAT scans, PET scans, MRI’s, you name it, the diagnoses are pretty much 100% right, or some tiny fraction below that. </p>
<p>I agree…trust me…I can’t feel what her mother feels. God forbid if I ever had to. I’m just being compassionate. How dare I judge another mother in this situation? My daughter is alive & well. Again, I’m not sure what I would do in this situation. I would like to think I could be practical and level headed. But who knows??</p>
<p>Disgusting…that school needs some kind of sanction for doing this. The girl is DEAD. Sheesh, what’s next, a high school diploma? Stop the pretense!</p>
<p>I know a family who is getting a high school diploma for their daughter who died 7 years ago, so the question on Jahi’s status and whether she is getting a diploma , saved a seat at graduation, listed in the program does not depend her being alive. If it eases the family’s pain, I am glad.</p>
<p>Someone had previously put a link up about a boy who had died at the age of four but his “body” was kept alive by his grieving mother for 20 years. It was pretty gross. When she finally disconnected him from the machine and they did an autopsy, it was obvious the brain had been dead for 20 years, yet the body grew a bit, gained weight, attempted to go through puberty. It would have been so much better to bury the boy 20 years ago when he actually died.</p>
<p>If anyone is to be criticized, it is the family, friends, lawyers, and physicians who are enabling this behavior. Of course we would all feel enormous confusion and grief. I can only hope that my loved ones would have the strength to say, “It’s time. Let her go.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_25939814/jahi-mcmath-family-pushing-school-grant-brain-dead”>http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_25939814/jahi-mcmath-family-pushing-school-grant-brain-dead</a></p>
<p>Okay, her uncle is comparing her to Kermit the Frog. </p>
<p>Terry Schiavo was not dead. This girl has been dead for nearly 6 months. People die. Children die. It’s tragic, but it’s not unusual. There is nothing compassionate about keeping a corpse on a ventilator if they are even doing that and we don’t have any proof of anything. They are being very secretive and this is not a bunch that values privacy.Yup, we get to judge this one. Sorry.</p>
<p>Why does this thread title say she is getting a high school diploma?</p>
<p>From everything I have read, this is not a high school diploma, but graduation from her k-8th grade school, since she had completed most of the work to graduate from 8th grade. That’s quite different from spotting her 4.5 years of work she never completed.</p>
<p>Gives new meaning to the concept of sleeping though class … @-) </p>
<p>Some schools have policies to award degrees posthumously. This family might not stop there. Makes me wonder if the next move would be to enroll her in high school using that diploma… She is “not dead” after all. (Rolleyes)</p>
<p>Ugh…okay, the mom is clueless and clinging on to false hope. What on earth is wrong with the school and people around her propagating this as if she’s just sleeping, and not a corpse? Prince Charming will not kiss her awake. She’s dead and decaying. Time to get her out of the news. Perhaps if they didn’t immediately put up funding sites I’d just feel sad for the sad delusional mom. </p>
<p>
It’s not easy being green…</p>
<p>What bothers me is that the family ASKED for this. Is that correct? It isn’t like the school offered it as a tribute sort of thing, like a posthumous degree. The family asked them to do. It sounds like the school is reluctant.</p>
<p>Based upon what I read previously, the school was reticent to do this as it received some negative publicity for the rally they previously held. Mom and the uncle are pushing for this. </p>
<p>In many other cases a school recognizing a deceased student at a graduation type ceremony would not be an issue. At my own high school graduation, decades ago, a student died during our senior year. He was mentioned in the program. This was the school’s choice. His parents didn’t insist on it. </p>
<p>In this case I think there is so much backlash because the mother and family “Insisted” Jahi be recognized and because the school wants to avoid attention. What is the antonym of “grace?” That is the definition of this family and has been at the root of the bad publicity here. </p>
<p>They have lacked grace in all matters–#1 refusing to let her go and be buried. </p>