Jahi McMath and So-Called Brain Death

• "In California, Jahi McMath is legally dead. In New Jersey, she is legally alive. Now, the deceased —or profoundly disabled—teenager is the subject of litigation that could make history.
  
  "A quick rundown: In 2013, the then thirteen-year-old girl suffered a cardiac arrest after undergoing throat surgery. Jahi’s brain was deprived of oxygen, and her doctors at the highly respected Children’s Hospital Oakland declared brain death and pushed to have all life-sustaining medical treatment terminated. Jahi’s mother, Latasha 'Nailah' Winkfield, would have none of it. She sued to keep her daughter’s life support maintained....

"there are expert medical opinions supporting Nailah’s position, most notably from the respected neurologist Dr. Alan Shewmon. Shewmon, professor emeritus in pediatrics and neurology at UCLA, has testified that Jahi’s condition does not currently meet the criteria for brain death....

"Disabled isn’t dead.... 

"Shewmon certainly is an expert. After reviewing Jahi’s medical condition and history, the tapes, and other data, he testified:


Jahi McMath is a living, severely disabled young lady, who currently fulfills neither the standard diagnostic Guidelines for brain death nor California’s statutory definition of death. At the very least, in the matter of life versus death, the compelling evidence [in videos] of responsiveness to commands and of puberty warrants giving life the benefit of the doubt.

"For their part, the hospital’s medical experts insisted to the judge that the videos prove nothing—that Jahi’s current physicality remains consistent with brain death and so the original findings should be binding.  However, the judge refused to remain mired in 2013. In a potentially precedent-setting decision, he ruled that Nailah may attempt to prove that Jahi is alive in a medical malpractice case....

"I am stunned that the medical and bioethics communities generally show such a pronounced lack of curiosity about Jahi’s situation....Perhaps it is just a case of 'experts' not wanting to know—because if Jahi isn’t dead, it would have epochal legal, social, medical, and scientific ramifications....

"Every time I write about Jahi’s uncertain situation, commenters angrily accuse Nailah of being 'in it' for the money (while somehow never arguing that the hospital could want Jahi to 'stay dead' for the money). I don’t believe it. Nailah clearly believes that Jahi is alive. Moreover, she is deeply—nay, fiercely—dedicated to caring for her daughter, a full-time and exhausting task. Those who claim that she is exploiting Jahi to make a profit don’t know what they are talking about" (Wesley Smith, 9/15/17)

• So-Called Brain Death: Do "Precaution" and "Respect for the Life of the Donator" "Prevail", in an Absence of "Certainty"? Or Do Assumedly "Rigorously Applied" Criteria Now "SEEM" to "Conflict" with a "Sound Anthropology"? (7/17/16)