Nailah Winkfield, the mother of Jahi McMath, the girl who was declared brain dead on December 11 of last year but who is being kept on ventilation and artificial feeding in an undisclosed location, has authored a letter to the general public about her daughter's condition. In the letter, she says that her daugher is "much better" physically and that she sees changes in her condition "that give me hope." She also hopes that Jahi's story will change the way the world thinks about brain death.
I'm very sorry for Ms. Winkfield, and cannot imagine the anguish she suffered when her 13-year-old died as a result of what was meant to be a routine tonsillectomy. Nonetheless, I sincerely hope that Jahi's tragedy does *not* change the world's mind about brain death. Brain death is a useful and important criterion for determining death in the modern hospital setting where machinery can prevent the cessation of breathing and heart activity. The permanent, irreversible lack of upper and lower-brain activity also seems to me to be the very essence of death, since it signals the deceased's complete and permanent lack of experience in and relation to the world. The fact that a dead person can be kept oxygenated is indeed useful for organ harvesting and transplant; but to keep a person oxygenated after the complete cessation not only of mental life but also even of brain-stem-coordinated automatic activity seems to me at best a very sad exercise in false hope. Harsh as it seems, I think it's also a waste of valuable resources. And most importantly, it mistakes a person for her body. Persons are bodies, to be sure; but they are more than that, fundamentally more. I'll admit to struggling with line-drawing here; my father remained father to me even after he was demented and in many ways no longer the person he once was. And certainly he remained a human being with preferences and experiences. He wouldn't have wanted to live in that state, but my mother (for example) did want him alive, even in that state. But brain-death is a more thorough kind of absence, a more complete dissolution, than mere dementia. I reduces a person to a collection of living and interdependent but non-coordinated and gradually dis-integrating cells and systems. Ms. McMath's life is over; and the end of her story has already been written, even if it takes months to arrive. I wish Ms. Winkfield her peace, but I remained convinced that she has been driven by love and hope and faith into making a terrible, though terribly human, mistake.
Showing posts with label Jahi McMath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jahi McMath. Show all posts
Friday, February 21, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
Ventilating the Dead, More Updates
The following message was posted on the Facebook website, Keep Jahi McMath on Life Support, less than an hour ago (boldface added):
Meanwhile, Salon is reporting that the family of Marlise Munoz, the brain-dead Texas pregnant woman who was kept on ventilation against her family's and her own previously-expressed wishes, may be faced with $300,000 of medical bills. Alternatively, the taxpayers of Tarrant County may end up footing the bill for their county hospital's actions. The hospital spent the money because of its view (rejected last week by a Texas judge) that a Texas law prohibiting the removal of "life-support" from any pregnant "patient" applied to the dead pregnant woman.
My previous coverage of the McMath case is here and here. Previous posts on Munoz are here (initial news), here (update), here (family's intention to sue), here (court proceedings), and here (removal from ventilation). A contrast of the Munoz case to a similar case in Canada is here.
Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and good wishes for Jahi, her family and others helping them. Jahi is Gods own child, she is being properly taken care of and loved by many. She is stable and she is much better in the new facility. Keep the love and prayers going. When there's any eventful information on her continuous healing, you will be updated. Please continue to be respectful of Jahi, her family and each other, have a blessed weekend and let us keep praying for Jahi. Matthew 18:20, "For where two or more are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them". Thank you and God Bless.McMath was declared brain dead by the state of California on December 11, and her parents have been keeping her body on ventilation and artificial nutrition/hydration at an undisclosed location ever since. It is very unlikely that she is "much better," or that she is undergoing "continuous healing." The power of the loving eye to see evidence for hope is strong indeed.
Meanwhile, Salon is reporting that the family of Marlise Munoz, the brain-dead Texas pregnant woman who was kept on ventilation against her family's and her own previously-expressed wishes, may be faced with $300,000 of medical bills. Alternatively, the taxpayers of Tarrant County may end up footing the bill for their county hospital's actions. The hospital spent the money because of its view (rejected last week by a Texas judge) that a Texas law prohibiting the removal of "life-support" from any pregnant "patient" applied to the dead pregnant woman.
My previous coverage of the McMath case is here and here. Previous posts on Munoz are here (initial news), here (update), here (family's intention to sue), here (court proceedings), and here (removal from ventilation). A contrast of the Munoz case to a similar case in Canada is here.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Ventilating The Dead: Canadian Case, McMath Update
Dylan Benson of British Columbia, Canada, is keeping the pregnant body of his brain-dead wife Robyn ventilated in order that their son might develop inside her and be born. Robyn was 22 weeks pregnant when she was struck dead by a brain hemorhage. Benson is using donated funds to pay for Robyn's ventilation; when his son is delivered by C-section, he will then bury his wife.
This case is strikingly parallel, of course, to last month's Marlise Munoz case in Texas, but there are also some striking differences. In the Benson case, the husband and the hospital agree on the aim of saving the developing fetus, and the husband believes his late wife would have wanted the child saved. In the Munoz case, both husband and parents wanted ventilation removed, and husband believed that his wife, an EMT, would not have wanted to be kept hooked up to machinery. Benson was 22 weeks pregnant when she died; Munoz only 14. Munoz's fetus went without oxygen for the same period of time that Munoz herself did; the lack of oxygen that killed her brain left her developing fetus devastated. But Benson was still breathing, though unresponsive, when her husband found her and rushed her to the hospital; it is possible that her fetus was unaffected by her brain hemorrhage.
Meanwhile, last week, a video was posted on the Keep Jahi McMath On Life Support Facebook page, purporting to show the feet of Jahi McMath, the brain-dead 13-year-old whose parents are keeping her on ventilation and artificial nutrition and hydration, responding to cold stimulus. The video has since been pulled, but remains widely available on the web. A female voice on the video says, "I don't understand how a brain-dead person could do this." But spinally-mediated movement by brain-dead persons has been documented for a long time.
This case is strikingly parallel, of course, to last month's Marlise Munoz case in Texas, but there are also some striking differences. In the Benson case, the husband and the hospital agree on the aim of saving the developing fetus, and the husband believes his late wife would have wanted the child saved. In the Munoz case, both husband and parents wanted ventilation removed, and husband believed that his wife, an EMT, would not have wanted to be kept hooked up to machinery. Benson was 22 weeks pregnant when she died; Munoz only 14. Munoz's fetus went without oxygen for the same period of time that Munoz herself did; the lack of oxygen that killed her brain left her developing fetus devastated. But Benson was still breathing, though unresponsive, when her husband found her and rushed her to the hospital; it is possible that her fetus was unaffected by her brain hemorrhage.
Meanwhile, last week, a video was posted on the Keep Jahi McMath On Life Support Facebook page, purporting to show the feet of Jahi McMath, the brain-dead 13-year-old whose parents are keeping her on ventilation and artificial nutrition and hydration, responding to cold stimulus. The video has since been pulled, but remains widely available on the web. A female voice on the video says, "I don't understand how a brain-dead person could do this." But spinally-mediated movement by brain-dead persons has been documented for a long time.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Ventilating the Dead: Update
The Fort Worth Star Telegram is reporting that the family of Marlise Munoz, the pregnant brain-dead woman who is being kept ventilated against the wishes of her family, will sue the John Peter Smith hospital to get her removed from the machinery. The hospital has kept Ms. Munoz on the machinery for weeks, citing the Texas Advance Directives Act, which states that no one can withdraw or withhold "life sustaining treatment" from a pregnant patient. The crucial legal question is whether the statutory restriction can properly be applied to treatment which is not "life-sustaining," because the patient in question is dead. (Family members have said that they've been told Ms. Munoz is brain-dead, but the hospital has made no official statement confirming this.) A hospital spokesman said the hospital was "encouraged" by the lawsuit "because the courts are the appropriate venue to provide clarity, direction and resolution in this matter." That sounds to me as if the hospital's position may be wholly liability-driven, and they're just looking for the safety of a court ruling to justify stopping the mechanical intervention. On the other hand, the hospital's outside council is reportedly one Neal Adams, who led a drive to end abortions at the hospital in 1988 and serves on the advisory board of the Northeast Tarrant Right-to-Life Educational Association, so perhaps more than liability is driving the hospital's position.
Earlier post on this case and on the Jahi McMath case in California here.
Earlier post on this case and on the Jahi McMath case in California here.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Ventilating the Dead: Two Cases
Jahi McMath is dead as a result of a rare and tragic bleeding complication following what was supposed to be a routine tonsillectomy. There is no trace of electronic activity in her brain. By law, she is dead; on Friday California decreed that she had been dead since December 12. But she's dead more than just "by law." She has no feeling, no thoughts, no memories, no dreams, no experiences, no emotions, no responses--and no hope of ever having any of those things ever again. Thanks to mechanical intervention, her heart continues to beat and her body appears warm and life-like. Her parents, hoping for a miracle, went to court to prevent her medical team from removing the life-support machinery from her dead body. They lost the court battle, but found a California nursing facility willing to accept transfer of the dead girl, and to keep her body attached to machines. Presumably the nursing home will charge someone for this service, though it's not clear what state or private insurance would pay for medical care for a dead person. The parents have already received over $50,000 in private donations, but mechanical ventilation costs thousands per day. In any case, Ms. McMath's body will gradually deteriorate even on mechanical support. She is already described by her family's attorney as being in "very bad shape" after her transfer. "We don't know if she's going to make it," he said of the dead girl. "Her medical condition, separate from the brain issue, is not good."
Ms. Munoz collapsed with a pulmonary embolism and ceased breathing. By the time she was discovered by her husband, she had suffered profound brain damage. (Her fetus, which suffered the same lack of oxygen, is likely to be brain-damaged as well.) Her husband, father and mother all agree that Ms. Munoz would not have wanted to be kept on life support in these circumstances.
I wonder if Mike Huckabee thinks that in this case, we ought to respect parents over government and family over hospitals?
Enter former (and future?) Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee:
The former Arkansas governor and ordained pastor began his Fox News show by admitting that he did not have the medical experience necessary to understand 13-year-old Jahi McMath’s condition but he encouraged her family to fight against any attempts to remove her from life support even though doctors said she technically "died several weeks ago.”In other words, "I don't know the facts but I know what to do." Thanks, Mike.
“Every life has value and worth,” Huckabee told his viewers on Saturday.But Ms. McMath is no longer alive, Mike.
“There is no such person who is disposable, one whose life has been deemed by others to be less than others and therefore expendable, I can’t share that.” He continued: “The road that starts that way in deciding that some lives have less value and are unworthy of protection, that leads to a culture that tolerates the undeserved killing of over 55 million unborn children in this country. It leads to China’s birth policy that limits the number of children for a family and enforces forced abortion if they deviate from the state-determined ideal....It’s also that culture that allowed the Nazis to to hideously justify the savage slaughter of millions of Jews, disabled people, old people and those with mental illness,” Huckabee said.Yep, declining to give medical treatment to corpses is just where Hitler started. Give them an inch....
“Let’s hope and pray that the courts continue to do what every court should do, respect parents over government, family over hospitals and, above all, protect Jahi from them all.”Meanwhile, in Texas, a hospital is keeping Marlise Munoz on mechanical ventilation against the wishes of her husband and her parents, and against her own previously-expressed wishes. The hospital is acting pursuant to the Texas Advance Directives Act, which prohibits withdrawal of life-support from any pregnant patient. But at least one doctor has declared the patient brain-dead, so the question arises: is a dead person a "patient"? Is mechanical ventilation on a dead person "life support"? Several legal experts, including two involved with drafting the Texas law, have opined in the press that if she is in fact brain-dead, the hospital is misinterpreting the law in keeping the woman attached to mechanical support.
Ms. Munoz collapsed with a pulmonary embolism and ceased breathing. By the time she was discovered by her husband, she had suffered profound brain damage. (Her fetus, which suffered the same lack of oxygen, is likely to be brain-damaged as well.) Her husband, father and mother all agree that Ms. Munoz would not have wanted to be kept on life support in these circumstances.
I wonder if Mike Huckabee thinks that in this case, we ought to respect parents over government and family over hospitals?
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