13 year old Jahi McMath went to the hospital to have her tonsils and adenoids removed, but experienced complication that have left her brain dead and on life support. Her family has faught to keep Jahi connected to life support, hoping for a miracle, but the hospital is fighting to have Jahi’s life support taken away.
Jahi’s family is currently trying to persaude the hospital to perform a tracheotomy and insert a feeding tube, two procedures that are necessary before Jahi can be transfered to a different facility where her family believes she will get better care.
The hospital has refused to do the procedures and said, “Children’s Hospital Oakland does not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice.”
Terry Schiavo’s Foundation is offering their support to the family and says that Jahi’s situation is common in hospitals all over the world.
“Together with our team of experts, Terri’s Network believes Jahi’s case is representative of a very deep problem within the U.S. healthcare system — particularly those issues surrounding the deaths of patients within the confines of hospital corporations, which have a vested financial interest in discontinuing life,” the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network said.
A hospital spokesman disagreed with the allegations and said that the family has not been able to find a facility that will take Jahi and insists that they have done everything they can to help the family.
Jahi’s life support was scheduled to be removed at 5 p.m. on Monday but a judge changed the deadline to 5 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) on January 7. According to doctors, Jahi is brain dead and has no chance of recovering. Without life support she will die. Jahi’s family is hoping for a miracle.
Image via Twitter.