The case of 13 year old Jahi McMath is very sad. I cannot imagine the hurt and sadness of what the family is going through.
But having said that, by keeping Jahi on life support after she has been declared brain dead by several doctors makes me wonder that if it is possible that in her death, she could save many other lives through organ donations.
From the Sacramento Bee: The last hope for Jahi McMath to be kept on a ventilator may come from a former Long Island, N.Y., hairdresser who runs a brain-injury treatment center dedicated to Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose case sparked a fierce nationwide end-of-life debate.
The news of the possible transfer came as the state Department of Public Health confirmed Tuesday it is investigating Children's Hospital Oakland and its handling of the Oakland, Calif., 13-year-old following her tonsil surgery and two other procedures to remove throat and nasal tissue, complications from which left her brain dead.
On Tuesday, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network said publicly for the first time that it has been helping Jahi's family for weeks to find a place to transfer the girl. The network has worked "in relative silence for the sake of the sensitivity of her case."
"Jahi McMath has been labeled a 'deceased' person. Yet she retains all the functional attributes of a living person, despite her brain injury," the organization said in a news release. "This includes a beating heart, circulation and respiration, the ability to metabolize nutrition and more. Jahi is a living human being."
According to a court filing from the family's attorney, the family is hoping to transfer Jahi into the care of the New Beginnings Community Center, in Medford, N.Y. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/31/6039160/state-investigating-oakland-hospital.htmlEven if Jahi does survive, her life would be so brutal as she would never be normal again. She would be like a 1 month old baby in a teenage body. She would need round the clock care and the family would be responsible for that. Her life, for all intent and purposes would be like that for the rest of her life, however long that may be.But the hospital actions are also troubling as they seem almost eager to turn off the breathing machines and other devices keeping Jahi alive, so to speak.It would be nice if some kind of compromise could be made.For instance, the family could have a long time to say good bye but the hospital could get the family's ok to harvest her organs so that other people could live with her donation of life.This isn't the same case where Terri Schiavo, as Schiavo was not brain dead and there was a greedy family involved.I hope that the family of Jahi will understand that people can be helped by Jahi in her death by donating her vital organs so that other may live.But then, I really don't what the family is going through because my kids haven't met the same fate of Jahi, so it is hard to second guess them.
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