If the judge orders another examination, does the judge get to pick the expert? When Jahi died, she was examined by two different experts, who both declared she was brain dead. Any other expert will say the same. This child has, sadly, been dead for two years.
Not sure about this, but it’s possible that the judge can order an expert to examine Jahi’s body before the suit even proceeds. Dead people do not have civil rights. She might not have standing to sue.
@Cardinal Fang, if memory serves, Jahi was examined by as many as six physicians, who all agreed with the diagnosis, and this is a diagnosis which is not taken lightly. There are many criteria, ALL of which must be met. I don’t remember how many of the experts were the court ordered ones; perhaps there were 2 as you suggest.
Everyone in the medical community will likely be following this case very closely.
There’s no doubt this child is dead. I’m just wondering about how the legal process will unfold, and whether the judge can order an expert to examine Jahi and then throw out the lawsuit before it ever begins.
"Who is paying for this? "
I read recently that NJ Medicaid is paying for her care.
This is a lawsuit that can never come to trial. Either Jahi is dead, in which case the suit will be thrown out because dead people can’t sue, or she is alive, in which case she will be granted summary judgment because live people don’t have death certificates.
If she is truly dead and Medicaid is paying for her care, that is absurd.
If she is truly dead, wouldn’t billing Medicaid for care be fraud?
Wasn’t the reason they moved herr to NJ because of some regulation that allowed her to be considered a patient and not a corpse? I can’t recall, but there was some reason the initial facility accepted her as a “patient”. Then they would have to be NJ residents to qualify for Medicaid, yes?
NJ Medicaid somehow can pay for medical care for someone declared deceased and for whom a dead certificate has been issued?
I feel for this family’s loss, I do. But use of Medicaid funds just doesn’t seem right. My family and many others in NJ have to fight to maintain Medicaid benefits for our disabled, low income family members and it is a struggle.
FWIW, an [LA Times story](McMath attorney: Jahi's family aren't fools; they deserve better than ignorant attacks) quotes this New Jersey law:
At first I thought that the mom was in denial. But now I have to wonder if she does know that her daughter is not coming back but that she has already chosen a path and there is no way out.
Thanks, wasatchWriter. That was it!
In that same LA Times article, Dolan (the McMath’s lawyer) writes, “Those who condemn Jahi’s family appear to have no idea that doctor-decreed “brain death” is not sufficient as a declaration of death everywhere in the United States.” It is, however, sufficient for actual deadness everywhere in the US.
Fri Jan 8, re Medical Malpractice Case by Mother, in Alameda Superior Ct:
“Today was the hearing on the defendants’ demurrer to the McMath family’s first amended complaint. Judge Freedman issued a tentative ruling about an hour before the hearing.”
"This tentative ruling like Judge Freedman’s ruling on the defendants’ original demurrer, strongly supports the plaintiffs’ right to have an opportunity to prove that Jahi is alive. He concludes that they should have this right notwithstanding prior determinations of death. Indeed, the judge apparently even said “I don’t know the state of cryogenics today, but maybe people can come back.”
Hearing is continued to Jan 29.
http://thaddeuspope.com/images/This_Tentative_Ruling_01-08-16.pdf
Not if your brain is soup. Sheesh…
Sounds like they got a judge who might rule in their favor.
I doubt it. If you read the ruling, he’s just saying that if the death certificate is in question in the lawsuit, the death certificate can’t be the evidence for throwing out the lawsuit.
What are MRI’s showing? Either there is a full sized, intact brain there or not.