<p>Uh-oh…</p>
<p>[Faith</a> Confronts Economic Reality in Fate of Jahi McMath | Post News Group](<a href=“http://postnewsgroup.com/blog/2014/01/09/faith-confronts-economic-reality-fate-jahi-mcmath/]Faith”>http://postnewsgroup.com/blog/2014/01/09/faith-confronts-economic-reality-fate-jahi-mcmath/)</p>
<p>The family has a history with attorney John Burris.</p>
<p>That article has a lot of inaccuracies–probably the worst being that the hospital was quick to turn off the ventilator. I think part of the problem in this case may be that the hospital wasn’t quick enough.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, not true. take a look at [Coleman</a> and Drake: ‘Second Thoughts’ Grow on Assisted Suicide - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303302504577323592786469240]Coleman”>Coleman and Drake: 'Second Thoughts' Grow on Assisted Suicide - WSJ)</p>
<p>" What most people are unaware of is that, under the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), hospitals get to set their own standards and specific protocols to use in making that determination. A study published in 2008 in the journal Neurology found widespread variation in protocols used in top neurology centers.</p>
<pre><code>Imagine allowing individual housing contractors to decide what parts of the plumbing code they choose to implement. That’s what the UDDA has done with hospitals and determination of brain death—and it leads to the possibility that someone could be determined “brain dead” and eligible for organ procurement in Hospital A, and diagnosed as a severely injured person needing evaluation and treatment in Hospital B."
</code></pre>
<p>if you read the UDAA, you can see clearly what I mean. What’s considered "dead’ in one place is not necesssarily so at another. That a judge saw differently as well, shows that the parents did have their rights to dispute this claim. </p>
<p>Do I think what they are doing is the right thing? From all I have read, and I have kept an open mind about this, no. My opinion. But the parents clearly have the right. If I were the one who was paying the tab for the vent, equipment and care, I’d be pushing to be off the hook for it, and hoping that the language in the insurance, liabiiliteis,etc was V-E-R-Y clear, or, yes, I’d be stuck. You think someone is running the machinery and doing the care for free? Someone, something is on the hook to pay and for reasons, not compassionate and emotional ones.</p>
<p>cpt - The judge did not see differently as he also ruled her dead and then gave them more time; for exactly what is the weird part. That’s the hang up.</p>
<p>As to who is providing care and who is paying: Well, we really are clueless about what is or isn’t going on right now.</p>
<p>The neurologist’s report from the SIXTH doctor to declare her dead was linked in the old thread. The guy did a lot of tests, as the protocol requires. In addition to determining that there was no blood flow to the brain, he did the apnea test, in which the lungs are filled with oxygen and the ventilator is turned off. In a person with a functioning brain stem, the buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood will cause the patient to gasp, and try to breathe. </p>
<p>The ventilator was turned off for nine minutes. No attempt to breathe was evident. That means no brain stem. There is no doubt, none whatsoever, that this poor girl has been dead for a month.</p>
<p>THe family has found a place willing to take this corpse or girl which has to be at great expense. She is dead by CA statute, but may not be by other definitions in place. Happens more often than one would think. You can death shop hospitals and centers. Ghoulish, but yes, if you don’t want someone lingering, there are places where you can get declared dead a lot faster than others. For those in this field of defining what’s dead, and not, it’s really as clear cut as one would think.</p>
<p>Do you all <em>really</em> believe she’s in a licensed care facility of some sort? I don’t. I believe she’s at home or in a private residence, with non-medical people sort of duct-taping this all together (both literally and figuratively). But that’s just my personal suspicion.</p>
<p>I think if the body were in a private residence being handled her heart would have stopped beating by now. Have a look at the affidavit where the hospital says what it was doing with the body: administering vasopressin, suctioning out the lungs, turning the body every two hours, on and on. That’s skilled medical care. You can’t just do it in your basement after reading a manual.</p>
<p>The last rumor was a rented house in Oakland. I would also be surprised by an actual facility and an actual medical team being involved. A big clue is Dolan’s refusal to confirm this. But I guess anything’s possible.</p>
<p>I think it’s in some kind of Catholic hospice facility.</p>
<p>One of the comments under the LA Times article says that the Schiavo Foundation issued a release this morning saying that Jahi is being cared for at Dignity Health in SF. I couldn’t find anything to confirm this.</p>
<p>From the intricacies of care needed to transport her, she is likely at a facility that is experienced in those in her condition. There are a number of places that offered to take her. It’s understandable why the family does not want the info released with all of the backlash comeing from this.</p>
<p>Every facility that publicly “offered” to take her backed out when they learned that she was dead. There would be no backlash at all if any of this made any sense. The family made it public so complaining about publicity now is ironic at best.</p>
<p>“I think if the body were in a private residence being handled her heart would have stopped beating by now”</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Jesse Koochin (the poor kid who died of a brain tumor) was taken home on a ventilator by his parents (I assume with some help from medical specialists), and his body lasted for almost a month before he was rushed to the ER when his heart finally stopped. So it is possible that they keep Jahi in a private home with round the clock care.</p>
<p>I agree, Bunsen. I meant to say “if Jahi’s body were in a private residence being handled by untrained caretakers” the heart would have stopped beating by now, but somehow I left out part-- I think because I stopped typing when my pancakes were ready. </p>
<p>I believe that the care could be done in a private residence, but it seems to me that medical professionals would have to be involved.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that Schiavo family foundation is funding something. Probably very sketchy. I can’t imagine a “licensed” facility would do this - they could really jeopardize their medicare accreditation I would think. Probably being “taken care of” by kooky quasi medical staff. </p>
<p>To the other story - why rush a brain dead body to the hospital when the heart stops beating?</p>
<p>eyemamom, I guess the parents never believed in the hospital’s diagnosis of brain death and tried to resuscitate him when the heart gave out:</p>
<p><a href=“Even as Doctors Say Enough, Families Fight to Prolong Life - The New York Times”>Even as Doctors Say Enough, Families Fight to Prolong Life - The New York Times;
<p>That was really interesting to read how the tide has turned in 10 short years from people wanting to pull the plug quicker and the hospital dragging their feet to where now it’s more patients families wanting to keep the charade going longer. </p>
<p>I wonder what has changed in society that we’re now so much more reluctant to accept death.</p>
<p>I wonder if access to media has changed things. Even as recently as 10 years ago, much of this would have happened in private. Even if the family had sought public support, access would have been limited. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al. have changed that. Today, anyone who shouts loudly enough can make a public name for themselves.</p>
<p>Or maybe “magical thinking” is just more the norm today than it was 10 years ago, thanks to video games, movies, etc.</p>