Link to article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/oakland-girl-brain-dead-life-support-judge
The Guardian’s article, “Oakland girl declared brain dead to be kept on life support for another week”, discusses Jahi McMath- who went brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy on December 9, 2013. Jahi McMath has been on life support since she was pronounced brain dead and her family is pursing legal action to keep Jahi alive. Furthermore, Jahi’s family and attorney are leaving it up to a judge to decide when Jahi should be taken off of life support. Currently, Jahi McMath is at the Children’s Hospital Oakland, but many facilities are not willing to take her under their care and she could possibly be transferred to New Beginnings Community Center in Medford, New York if a judge decides to extend her time.
The Guardian’s article, “Oakland girl declared brain dead to be kept on life support for another week”, discusses Jahi McMath- who went brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy on December 9, 2013. Jahi McMath has been on life support since she was pronounced brain dead and her family is pursing legal action to keep Jahi alive. Furthermore, Jahi’s family and attorney are leaving it up to a judge to decide when Jahi should be taken off of life support. Currently, Jahi McMath is at the Children’s Hospital Oakland, but many facilities are not willing to take her under their care and she could possibly be transferred to New Beginnings Community Center in Medford, New York if a judge decides to extend her time.
Being from
Pleasanton, a city that is only 30 minutes away from where the incident took
place, I have been able to develop a deeper understanding of the situation
since it is all over the news. In my opinion, Jahi should be taken off of life
support at this point. Since she is legally dead and her family has been able
to get through the holidays with her still being “alive” it is now officially time
to let her go.
The
situation is very heart breaking, do not get me wrong, but I feel that her
family is trying to make money off of her condition and that they are getting
bad legal advice as well. The reason I believe they are trying to make money off
of her is because they keep blaming all these hospitals she has been
transferred to for making her condition worse, hence why many hospitals are
refusing the admittance of Jahi McMath. The family is also all over the news
and it seems like they are trying to get attention from this. I think her
family should have handled the whole situation differently by not being in the
media by constantly pointing fingers, but by rather accepting the fact that
Jahi is gone and that there is nothing they can do to bring her back.
It’s
understandable that her family is in grief and they are willing to do anything
to keep Jahi alive, but Jahi needs a feeding tube and she is on a ventilator.
Does her family want her to rely on that forever? The family has also argued
that she is not brain dead because she has had muscle movement, but multiple doctors
have confirmed that Jahi is legally dead and that involuntary muscle movement
is normal. What more evidence does the family need that Jahi McMath will never
be fully functioning again?
The incident is so sad and I cannot
imagine that happening to a member of my family, or even a friend, but I am a
strong believer that everything happens for a reason and that it is her time to
go. However, letting Jahi’s body decompose on a hospital bed, while being
attached to a ventilator and feeding tube is even more heart breaking to me.
Natalie, I concur with you on the idea that the family members are not handling this situation appropriately. Like you said, pointing fingers and getting media attention from their daughter's health seems almost cynical to me. You also made a great point by stating that the family should be more content with disconnecting Jahi because they were able to spend the holidays with her (or at least her physical presence).
ReplyDeleteI can’t imagine being put into a situation where I would have to protest for a family member’s life, but in this situation I think that the parents need to accept the reality that their daughter isn’t the body that’s gradually decomposing on a hospital bed, that their daughter should be remember for who she was and not for a lifeless sack of bones. It’s harsh to say that but it’s the truth.
-David Palma
Natalie, I concur with you on the idea that the family members are not handling this situation appropriately. Like you said, pointing fingers and getting media attention from their daughter's health seems almost cynical to me. You also made a great point by stating that the family should be more content with disconnecting Jahi because they were able to spend the holidays with her (or at least her physical presence).
ReplyDeleteI can’t imagine being put into a situation where I would have to protest for a family member’s life, but in this situation I think that the parents need to accept the reality that their daughter isn’t the body that’s gradually decomposing on a hospital bed, that their daughter should be remember for who she was and not for a lifeless sack of bones. It’s harsh to say that but it’s the truth.
-David Palma
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the McMath family's actions have been extremely misunderstood by the general public. The family absolutely does not deserve the negative publicity that they are receiving. The family simply took the hospital to court to prevent them from taking their daughter off of life support. The theory that "brain death" and death are the same is based in neuroscience and has been a recognized way of pronouncing death since the 1970's. However, many religions such as Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism do not believe that being "brain dead" constitutes as death. They believe that total failure of the heart is the only way to evaluate death. This then goes into our first amendment rights but that is a whole 'nother subject. I believe the hospital is the one who handled the situation completely wrong. First, they messed up the surgery, causing the fatal problems which Jahi experienced. They then issued a death certificate and pronounced her dead while she still had a heart beat. This caused further treatment to cease. This enraged the McMath family who were pushing to have a stomach tube inserted to continue to treat Jahi. The denial of this request is what pushed the family to take legal action. Media attention was the last thing the family wanted and they have actually worked hard to stay out of the spotlight. They are simply having hope in their daughter's recovery and believe that God will help her make it through. There are many cases of "brain dead" patients actually recovering and going on to lead completely normal lives. In fact, a family friend of ours was in a coma for four years! After four years, he woke up from his coma with no memory of anything that had happened. He then made a slow but full recovery and went on to live a normal life.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, there is no right or wrong answer. I see logical points for each side of the argument but for me personally, I am siding with the parents of the brain dead girl. I understand that keeping this girl on life support and transferring to a different hospital that is willing to take care of her takes up a ton of money, but as long as it comes voluntary, I have no problem with it. Keep the child alive for one more week until the hearing, and after, no matter the outcome, allow the family of the child to try and raise money from charity groups and fundraisers so the money that is being spent to keep this dead child alive is from voluntary actions.
ReplyDeleteSomething like this is personally hard to judge from virtually any perspective. You have to take into account the sorrow of the family, the legality involved, and the reasonable actions offered by the hospital. Not being well versed on the topic of when someone is legally dead, and what that officially means, I can't dictate that either choice is right or wrong, but if in fact she is still alive, and has hope to live normally again, it would be unethical to take her off of life support. On the other hand, you can put blame on the family, if there is truly no hope for Jahi, as trying to prolong suffering and pain. Though her heart beats, her brain activity might not be able to function at “livable” capacity. When you take that into account you recognize that instead of stalling for her to regain life, they are postponing inevitable death, by unnatural causes.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting how we are given two articles where two different families are being criticized for basically doing opposite things. In one case (Jahi's) a family is utilizing medical technology to the fullest to keep their child alive for as long as possible and in the other case a family rejects all medicine leaving the lives of their children completely in the hands of their god. It's so ironic that what we consider advancements in medical technology can be so controversial and with further understanding of how to manipulate the human body come more debates.
ReplyDeleteOne increasingly more popular bioethics debate is that about the extreme prolongation of human life. If we develop technology should we keep humans alive for a significantly longer amount of time? How would that affect the world? How would we compensate?
The following article from psychology today addresses some economic concerns that come along with life extension.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/adventures-in-old-age/200912/would-immortality-become-overpopulation-nightmare
-Brianna Lee Group 3 Context
Answering the question whether to keep someone you love alive or let them go has to be the hardest decision to ever make. Although most people know the right thing to do, nobody seems to be able to find it within to let a loved one die which is what makes this such a hard topic because nobody wants to be in this situation. I know that i personally wouldn't be able to make an easy decision because although i wouldnt want to let a loved one go, i also wouldn't want to sit there and watch them die more and more everyday and make them suffer. In this article titled "The Problem of Prolonging Life", Katy Butler talks about her first-hand encounter with the exact situation that was being talked about, whether to let a loved one die or prolong their life unnaturally and the moral issues surrounding the subject.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/the-problem-of-prolonging-life/280331/
Probably the most difficult decision that a human is faced to deal with in their life would have to be this situation right here. Everyone hopes and believes and prays for a miracle to help bring their loved ones back to life and they do not want to lose faith. But from a personal perspective a couple days maybe even a week at the most is as long as I would hold onto someone in this case. After a while it does become an inconvenience to hold someone in a hospital and constantly give attention to someone who is brain dead when there are other patients that are as equally important but are still functioning in their brains. Especially going on the news, I do agree that it is not necessary to go on the news about this issue. Yes this family wants to fight for their daughter’s life but at some point you have to just let it go. It is very sad and unfortunate but going on the news and making their case a huge news story when people are being taken off life support regularly is not right and its where like you believe the speculation of using their daughter for money comes into play.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, you make very good points here. This is a very interesting article and sparks up a lot of controversy. Many people would argue on whether or not she is “dead” or “alive” but I agree with what you are saying. There comes a point in situations like this where families unfortunately have to let go. She has already been confirmed legally dead by several doctors so it is just heart breaking to see her family try to linger on to her body just lying there. I’m sure they are also trying to grab some money and media attention through this whole fiasco because I feel in the back of their minds they know what the right decision to make is. They just haven’t made it yet. Plastering this all over the television is not the thing to do. This would be such a difficult decision to make though, and the family must be put in such a tough spot. But for the sake of their daughter’s life and all the amazing memories she was able to make in the past, Jahi should be put to rest.
ReplyDeleteI find it extremely difficult for me to decide what is right and what is wrong in this situation. While I have never had someone close to me pass away, I have never experienced how it feels to lose someone and how it makes you feel. I couldn’t imagine how her parents’ feel losing their daughter. I find it not surprising that Jahi’s parents can’t accept the fact that her daughter is actually gone and that there is nothing anyone can do to bring her back. I don’t blame them for wanting to keep her on life support because, imagining myself in that situation, it would be impossible for me to actually let go and accept the fact that they are gone forever. Although the given situation is extremely heartbreaking, I believe that there comes a time where Jahi’s parents need to realize that she has been pronounced as legally dead and that it would be the right thing to do to finally take her off life support. The following article discusses a situation almost opposite of Jahi’s situation. A husband of a pregnant woman, who was declared as brain dead, sues a hospital for keeping her on life support.
ReplyDeletehttp://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/01/14/husband-sues-hospital-to-take-pregnant-brain-dead-wife-off-life-support/
It's very unfortunate that any family is placed in a situation where their child has legally been declared dead. However tragic the circumstances, however, I do feel that the family has some obligation to allow their child to peacefully pass. It may be difficult to accept that one will be outliving their child, but, the situation has been handled somewhat poorly on the parents part. The lawsuits and fundraisers being thrown may have a good intention, but it does not accomplish what the parents want, which is to have their child living again. Publishing several stories and going to the media is not the proper way to deal with your child's death. I've yet to deal with the passing of a close loved one, but, with respect to the family, they do need to eventually let go.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why the family chooses to keep the daughter on life support because I had a very lose childhood friend that had a sibling in a similar situation but she was not legally dead. Letting go is the hardest thing to do no matter what it is. But, there is a time and place where you must let go in order to move on. If the family is using this story to get attention and possible money that is outrageous and clearly they have different goals then most people in this situation. I believe that it should be put on the parents whether or not to take her off life support because the judge is not a family member and obviously doesn't have the same connection to her that her parents do. It is a lose-lose situation that this family has been put in but seeing as she is legally dead, I think it is time to move on, no matter how much it hurts. They need to come together as a family and console each other in this time of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe decision to keep a person alive on life-support has long been a controversial topic. The main debate revolves around whose right it is to take a person off of life-support. Supporting an unresponsive patient for weeks or even months is costly and takes up precious hospital space and medical attention. The chances of a patient coming out of a coma is usually what determines how long they will be supported on a ventilator and feeding tube. However, I feel that this situation is a little different, because multiple doctors have confirmed Jahi McMath to be brain dead. This makes any chance of a recovery to be much more unlikely. I personally believe that this family needs to accept their loss, and take Jahi off of life-support. Here is a similar article, except the roles are reversed. The family is attempting to take a brain dead women off of life-support, but the hospital is trying to keep her on it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2014/01/14/justice/pregnant-life-support-texas/
When you look at whether or not to stop life support, the quality of life should be a key factor in the outcome. If someone, such as Jahi McMath, is brain dead and on life support, they have virtually no quality of life because they aren't thinking or functioning. I can understand how they would resist taking her off of life support because they feel like they would be taking her life away, but it isn't really there anymore. Everything we are as humans and individuals is perceived through the brain. The brain is the most critical component of the human body. Its how we move, think, walk, and know our individual personality. If someone is brain dead and a computer is continuing the heart pumping, it is really just preserving a state but not making them any better off. Life support can not bring someone who is brain dead back to life, except for certain very rare events. Jahi should be put to rest rather than left as an immobilized human being. Fighting with the hospitals and crying to the news stations will change nothing. The fact of the matter is that a very heart-wrenching accident occurred during a surgery, and leaving Jahi on life support will not bring her back.
ReplyDeleteLeaving someone considered legally pronounced dead on life support is selfish and unfair to children still alive that need care at the hospital. Keeping Kahi on life support is taking away a room from a patient that could be saved, it also takes time away from doctors and nurses trying to save lives.
Hospitals are only so limited on space and if your child could not receive treatment because this family could not accept that their child is already gone and they demand to keep them there while your child is desperate for help, what would you do?
Although Jahi McMath's family is rightfully allowed to be saddened by the tragic incident that occurred to Jahi, their emotions should not get in the way of proper medical procedures. Multiple experts in the field have determined that she is indeed brain-dead, and only her body is alive due to various life-support machines. Although it is often preferable to have a loved one remain alive rather than die, a line must be drawn when families use emotions to guide their decisions, as opposed to using accepted medical knowledge to help make medical decisions. The doctors, with their many years of expertise, have determined that she is not going to make it, unlike the family, which is relying on mere faith-based beliefs. The doctors have determined that any muscle movements can be attributed to muscle spasms, rather than reactions that a living person would make. This is a very tragic event for her family, but they need to act in Jahi's best interest, and allow her to pass, rather than unnecessarily prolonging her nonexistent life.
ReplyDelete