Oakland 13 Y. O. to Remain on Life Support Another Week, Per Court Order

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Fargobound

I wonder what medical facility would even accept this kind of liability?

The director of the facility that accepted her body really should have their head examined.

All I see at this point is another defendant in the making.

I think all of us doubt that she is in a medical facility being tended to by doctors.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by Fargobound

I wonder what medical facility would even accept this kind of liability?

The director of the facility that accepted her body really should have their head examined.

All I see at this point is another defendant in the making.

Well, we do not know what legal arrangement they have.

I'd say fund raising, maybe enough for an enclosed facility, or other purposes would be one reason.

I know I do not have enough neurons to understand or guess the motivations of those involved.

MSR

[vmaxnc]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

This is the response written by the hospital physician to the request to keep Jahi on the ventilator:

[scribd]196756012[/scribd]

Go to point # 7.

Wow.

Thanks for that. I think.

[germaine2626]

Originally Posted by willow wind

...
The ones I feel most sad for are Jahi's brothers and sisters. Bad enough when parents are deep on denial and too dense to make sense out of science , But to to have children believing that if they just pray hard enough their sister will come back to life, in spite of all medical fact, is appalling. It's beyond cruel.

Originally Posted by elhelmete

For whatever reason this aspect makes me saddest of all.

I agree that Jahi's siblings and classmates being told that she is still alive and to pray for her recovery is heartbreaking. Once her parents accept that Jahi is dead, will her siblings and friends blame themselves for not praying hard enough and thus feel responsible for her not totally recovering and returning to school and her old life?

[hellpaso]

I've been following this thread & haven't posted anything, as the whole situation has been covered in expert detail by the posters, especially the OP, Mtn States Resident.
As an RN of over 30 years experience, I offer my compliments to you all in participating in a civilized discussion of a tragic case.

It does still infuriate me that the media still refers to the procedure performed on Jahi as a routine tonsillectomy, & blames medical & nursing personnel for her bad outcome. It is obvious what happened in this situation with the family's non-compliance. I hope that the hospital's documentation is complete & detailed.

I can't imagine how they are hiring staff to care for that decomposing body.

[stan4]

If the family did this bc they truly believe she will "wake up," it is another mark against ridiculous medical tv shows that show all sorts of spectacular bullsh**.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Terri Schiavo ' s brother clarifies they are not medical experts and how they were contacted.
SCHINDLER: My sister Terri Schiavo was alive like Jahi McMath - Washington Times

MSR

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by hellpaso

I've been following this thread & haven't posted anything, as the whole situation has been covered in expert detail by the posters, especially the OP, Mtn States Resident.
As an RN of over 30 years experience, I offer my compliments to you all in participating in a civilized discussion of a tragic case.

It does still infuriate me that the media still refers to the procedure performed on Jahi as a routine tonsillectomy, & blames medical & nursing personnel for her bad outcome. It is obvious what happened in this situation with the family's non-compliance. I hope that the hospital's documentation is complete & detailed.

I can't imagine how they are hiring staff to care for that decomposing body.

hellpasso,

Thank you for your very generous, kind words. When I started this thread, as I've written before, my primary goal was education. People don't talk about brain death daily, except in certain circles when they are caring for a patient who becomes brain dead, and the patient's loved ones. It means a tremendous amount to me with your 30 yrs. of nursing that you think so many accurate posts have been shared by some very skilled and wise posters, plus whatever I've added. I think we all want to learn for future situations as well as attempting to help others learn more.

We've had outstanding links from nursing, medicine, law and others. They certainly added to the education process.

I think overall those who have posted have tried to respectful of the teen, her family and other posters. For many of us we were perhaps able to answer an additional question or provide more information than perhaps we've been able to do with all the patients/families who didn't have as much time. Families, as you would know, can't absorb all those details the worst days of their lives.

I never had any idea this thread would have evolved to where we are today from the first thought in my brain of how a respectful discussion could occur here.

Thanks again for taking the time to post and say thanks to all who have contributed. There are some amazing people and professionals who have helped keep this thread educational and a safe place to ask a question. I hope you'll feel free to post any additional thoughts you have.

Mostly, I hope this teen's body can soon get the respect it deserves.

MSR

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by stan4

If the family did this bc they truly believe she will "wake up," it is another mark against ridiculous medical tv shows that show all sorts of spectacular bullsh**.

stan4,

You may have a great point. We're not all able to have what a friend of my calls, "The Golden House Hour," where everything was diagnosed and usually treated in less than an hour.

Let's just hope someone doesn't try to do a weird reality show.

Untold Secrets of the E.R. and Medical Mysteries are two of my favorite shows.But they are real based on real patients and clinicians.

Maybe a true effort at ethics in medicine and law could be developed, based on true cases.

MSR

[luzianne]

I think it set a bad precedent by allowing the family to have custody of the body. That's just wrong. I can see another family down the road citing this case and saying that they, too, want to take possession of their dead relative's body. I think the court got in the way of doctors doing what they knew was the right thing to do - remove her from the ventilator. When a doctor pronounces a patient dead and several other doctors back it up, it should NOT be the family's decision whether to leave the dead person on a ventilator. With pronouncement of death should come removal of the ventilator until the family has decided to donate organs and the ventilator needs to stay on long enough to procure the organs. The judge is not a doctor and in my opinion shouldn't be making a decision about a patient being on the ventilator or not, especially when several doctors have already said the patient is brain dead.