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Voltaire2

Voltaire2's Journal
Voltaire2's Journal
July 1, 2018

Teenage Girl Caught at the Center of a Medical and Religious Debate Over Brain Death Dies


A girl at the center of the medical and religious debate over brain death has died after surgery in New Jersey, her mother said Thursday.

Nailah Winkfield said doctors declared her daughter Jahi McMath dead on June 22 from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to treat an intestinal issue.

McMath was declared dead in December 2013 when she was 13 after suffering irreversible brain damage during routine surgery in California to remove her tonsils and a coroner signed a death certificate. Several specialists concurred after neurological tests.

Winkfield refused to accept the conclusion. She said her Christian beliefs compelled her to fight for continued care for her daughter, who she said showed signs of life through toe wriggles and finger movements.

Headline is misleading. the unfortunate Jahi McMath continued to be dead for more than four years until the family finally accepted reality last week. The other interesting aspect of this case is the civil law suit which the family has launched to cover the expenses of keeping their brain dead daughter breathing for nearly five years. Now that she is both brain and body dead, the suit will have to establish that she was undead while in New Jersey.

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