I hope the medical staff supporting Jahi all have good therapists
I've been trying to avoid posting about Jahi McMath, which is one of the more disturbing news stories in the Bay Area this month. But I really can't help it. (wendelina2: this might be a bit too close to home so don't read if it bugs you.)
Jahi McMath, through tragic circumstances we do not know, but which I suspect have much to do with a post-tonsillectomy consumption of a Popsicle, had profuse post-operative bleeding and is now brain dead. (the Popsicle appears in paragraph 12 in that link)
like many states, California is guided by brain death and considers it the true death. however Jahi's parents clearly did not trust the medical doctors who (absent the fact of the Popsicle) were responsible for this result to decide to pull the plug on her ventilator. I can't say I blame them, actually. they went to court, and got a restraining order pending a court-ordered independent evaluation from other pediatricians. and guess what: the independent evaluators said she is brain dead.
the news stories all seem to be slanted on the plight of the family as they struggle to get the hospital to cooperate in the care and feeding of their daughter. the authors I think are not really considering what this situation means. the girl is dead. nobody is home! the hospital has tried to explain, the life support is merely postponing "the normal post-mortem course of events." they explain, they do "...not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice." but nonetheless the body is on life support, breathing, heart beating...
...that's so very creepy. kudos to the hospital for trying to keep it civil. I would be so very weirded out to be in a room with this girl's dead, breathing body. when my mom passed away, they told me, they could not pull the vent until the death certificate was signed. there was her body, breathing... with flat monitors. I was out of that room so fast, so very creepy. and that was my mom. I can't imagine what the caretakers in the facility housing this girl's body are thinking. but it's got to be a trauma to them. and here the girl's family spent Christmas in her room, pretending it's normal. in her room. with a dead body, that's still breathing. sounds like something out of Hitchcock.
CNN addresses some of the ethics involved here, but not the creepy factor. the family here, is so selfish. I grieve for them, that they lost their child in such an unexpected and sudden way. but the pain and creepiness they are inflicting on health care providers, to waste resources and time on maintaining a deceased person, is so selfish.
if they really want to see for themselves, hook an EEG to the girl's head. run an MRI to see blood flow. and then.. let her go. I saw a commenter on one of the articles ask: what if the girl is standing at the gates of heaven, but they won't let her in because her body is still operating? the commenter is right. so creepy.
here's some background reading on this sort of thing on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case
I thought that was creepy and wrong too. but for some reason I can't find my posts about that. anyhow it has an image of where her brain started to liquefy (that's what brain death does...) and how it looked on an MRI.
Jahi McMath, through tragic circumstances we do not know, but which I suspect have much to do with a post-tonsillectomy consumption of a Popsicle, had profuse post-operative bleeding and is now brain dead. (the Popsicle appears in paragraph 12 in that link)
like many states, California is guided by brain death and considers it the true death. however Jahi's parents clearly did not trust the medical doctors who (absent the fact of the Popsicle) were responsible for this result to decide to pull the plug on her ventilator. I can't say I blame them, actually. they went to court, and got a restraining order pending a court-ordered independent evaluation from other pediatricians. and guess what: the independent evaluators said she is brain dead.
the news stories all seem to be slanted on the plight of the family as they struggle to get the hospital to cooperate in the care and feeding of their daughter. the authors I think are not really considering what this situation means. the girl is dead. nobody is home! the hospital has tried to explain, the life support is merely postponing "the normal post-mortem course of events." they explain, they do "...not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice." but nonetheless the body is on life support, breathing, heart beating...
...that's so very creepy. kudos to the hospital for trying to keep it civil. I would be so very weirded out to be in a room with this girl's dead, breathing body. when my mom passed away, they told me, they could not pull the vent until the death certificate was signed. there was her body, breathing... with flat monitors. I was out of that room so fast, so very creepy. and that was my mom. I can't imagine what the caretakers in the facility housing this girl's body are thinking. but it's got to be a trauma to them. and here the girl's family spent Christmas in her room, pretending it's normal. in her room. with a dead body, that's still breathing. sounds like something out of Hitchcock.
CNN addresses some of the ethics involved here, but not the creepy factor. the family here, is so selfish. I grieve for them, that they lost their child in such an unexpected and sudden way. but the pain and creepiness they are inflicting on health care providers, to waste resources and time on maintaining a deceased person, is so selfish.
if they really want to see for themselves, hook an EEG to the girl's head. run an MRI to see blood flow. and then.. let her go. I saw a commenter on one of the articles ask: what if the girl is standing at the gates of heaven, but they won't let her in because her body is still operating? the commenter is right. so creepy.
here's some background reading on this sort of thing on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case
I thought that was creepy and wrong too. but for some reason I can't find my posts about that. anyhow it has an image of where her brain started to liquefy (that's what brain death does...) and how it looked on an MRI.