<p>Very interesting commentary from Meghan Daum that just came out. I can’t get the link right but if you google “In Jahi’s case, past time for a reality check” it should pop up.</p>
<p>I thought that was a good article. Thanks for pointing it out.</p>
<p>[In</a> Jahi’s case, past time for a reality check - latimes.com](<a href=“In Jahi's case, past time for a reality check”>In Jahi's case, past time for a reality check)</p>
<p>Very good article. Thanks for posting it.</p>
<p>She states my feelings perfectly. The judge made a huge mistake y letting this family take Jahi’s body out of that hospital.</p>
<p>Nice to see a journalist who did the minimal research to come to the conclusion that brain death is NOT the same thing as coma or persistent vegetative state.</p>
<p>Excellent article. Thanks for posting.</p>
<p>I can’t read it. The wall is blocking me. But, I’m pretty sure this is what I thought a month ago. Welcome to reality, LA Times!</p>
<p>How long can a heart keep beating on a ventilator? With the other case of a brain dead woman being kept alive because she’s pregnant it must be possible to not decompose. </p>
<p>I don’t know how to find tweets, etc is anyone in the family still reporting?</p>
<p>Not much. They have locked down all of their Facebook pages and even the uncle hasn’t tweeted in about a week. There’s still the occasional aunt, cousin, or nephew but who knows what’s even real at this point. Basically…crickets.</p>
<p>The care the Texas woman is getting is certainly far different from what Jahi got after the court mandated that CHO only needed to maintain ventilator/vasopressin.</p>
<p>The Texas woman is probably receiving TPN (special IV nutrition), numerous medications, and hormone support that Jahi did not receive after her brain death diagnosis.</p>
<p>Jahi is young so presumably her heart could stay functional for months. Kind of depends on other factors.</p>
<p>"How long can a heart keep beating on a ventilator? With the other case of a brain dead woman being kept alive because she’s pregnant it must be possible to not decompose. "</p>
<p>This is a bief description of what was being done to keep the body from rapid decomposition and a link to the full text of the scientific article summarizing one of such cases (with a ptetty good review of the literature):</p>
<p>[A</a> brain-dead pregnant woman with prolonged somatic support and successful neonatal outcome: A grand rounds case with a detailed review of literature and ethical considerations](<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3883204/]A”>A brain-dead pregnant woman with prolonged somatic support and successful neonatal outcome: A grand rounds case with a detailed review of literature and ethical considerations - PMC)</p>
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<p>It is a lot of stuff!</p>
<p>PLEASE be careful not to turn this thread into a discussion that killed the previous thread.</p>
<p>I will be very careful, I’m just curious how you keep a heart beating in the case of Jahi. Since we don’t know where she is we have no idea if she’s also getting those treatments. </p>
<p>But they aren’t going win a case - over what happened over the is she dead or not dead, but what led to it. </p>
<p>I agree with the article, it’s a shame that this hospital got such horrible press. It will be total madness if people feel like their opinion trumps true medical professionals on death.</p>
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<p>Agree. That thread went south very quickly.</p>
<p>Reading the comments to many of the articles written about Jahi McMath has been more interesting than the articles themselves.</p>
<p>I have not followed this other than cursory readings here and there. Such a terrible situation. A problem, however, is that there is no one definition of what constitutes brain dead. A hospital has the right to have its own definitions of this an to time the release from life support measures according to their own policies. So, though the hospital was well within its rights in making this determination, if the family wants to find someone, somewhere, someplace else with a different definiton, and apparently they have, they can exercise that right. I don’t know who is paying for this extensive support, but if it is insurance or some federal/state program, they may want to rewrite their own definitions and criteria of paying for these things. </p>
<p>So for all of the outcries of this family keeping their daughter who has been proclaimed brain dead by a hospital, really are misplaced, IMO, if there are reasons that they can according to a court of law, and so it has occurred.</p>
<p>To clarify - </p>
<p>She was declared dead by the court and the coroner on Dec 12th. It’s not just brain dead by one hospital, rather it’s every kind of dead by everyone but a few kooks. You can always find a kook. But, 6 doctors including 3 independent physicians brought in by the family and one Stanford neurologist appointed by the court examined her and declared her dead. In fact, the only Dr. who labeled her not dead hadn’t even seen her at that point. It really is unfortunately pretty clear.</p>
<p>I don’t think they found any expert to testify that she isn’t brain dead–just somebody who thinks brain dead isn’t “dead” if the heart is still beating–and that’s contrary to California statutory law.</p>
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<p>No, cpt, that’s not correct. Hospitals don’t get to have their own definitions of brain death. Brain death is defined, both medically and legally, as DEAD. There are specific criteria, ALL of which must be met, to be defined as brain dead. </p>
<p>From the California statute regarding brain death:</p>
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<p>Emphasis is mine.</p>
<p>Jahi was tested extensively by several physicians using numerous tests which indicate cessation of all activity of the brain and brain stem. She had a negative cerebral flood flow result, which showed she had NO current blood flow into her brain. No blood to the brain is a dead brain. A dead brain = dead by California law. The definition of dead which has been put forth by the family, the attorney, and Dr. Paul Byrne are nowhere near in accordance with accepted medical standards.</p>
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<p>Indeed…I gotta ask how good any of that ‘stuff’ was/is for a developing fetus. (Wow.)</p>
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<p>And very similar laws in ~25 other states (if I recall correctly an earlier article in the Tribune.)</p>