Post by Admin on Jan 6, 2014 17:01:36 GMT -4
Jahi McMath was declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy gone wrong. But New York doctors say they think there may be hope for her to pull out of her coma.
It may seem unlikely but there is a chance a 13-year-old California girl declared brain dead after suffering complications following a routine tonsillectomy could recover.
At least, that's what doctors with a New York-based neurological foundation believe.
Dr. Jonathan Fellus, the chief medical officer with the International Brain Research Foundation, a nonprofit group that specializes in treating coma patients and claims to have helped hundreds of people deemed brain dead awaken from comas, is in California to assist Jahi McMath's family.
The young girl slipped into a coma on Dec. 9. Her family has battled the hospital now for weeks in a desperate attempt to keep her on life support.
Fellus' goal is to help determine if the young girl can achieve some kind of recovery.
Nailah Winkfield, left, mother of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, is comforted by brother Omari Sealey outside Children's Hospital Oakland, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. She says, "I don't care what anyone has to say about what I'm doing. ... I have to do what is right for me and for Jahi."
Although he has yet to examine her personally at Children's Hospital in Oakland, he is expected to be there Tuesday and said he has already looked over her records.
RELATED: JUDGE EXTENDS LIFE SUPPORT FOR JAHI MCMATH UNTIL JAN. 7
"We need to examine her further," IBRF Chief Executive Officer Dr. Philip Defina told the Daily News on Tuesday. "There is hope."
What Jahi needs, he noted, was more time.
"Why wouldn't you want to examine it further?" he said. "Why do we want to jump ahead and pull the plug on this 13-year-old girl who may have a chance to recover?"
Jahi McMath's uncle Omari Sealy, grandmother Sandra Chatman and family attorney Chris Dolan, left to right, address the media outside Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, California, December 30, 2013.
Jahi suffered cardiac arrest following a tonsillectomy to treat sleep apnea.
Fellus told The News she needs to spend more time in the hospital to recover from her cardiac arrest and to determine if she could wake from the coma. He said her young age and that she suffered the cardiac arrest in a hospital and was quickly treated are both positive factors that favor possible recovery.
"Basically we need the dust to settle," he said. "It's difficult to see a clear picture [in a patient's brain after a cardiac arrest]. It's still not a clear picture."
These doctors, who are handling the case pro-bono, are also challenging the status-quo definition of brain dead in the medical field and what it really means for the patient.
Dr. Phil Defina, CEO of International Brain Research Foundation, says, "you want to err on the side of caution and not take away a life. You want to give her a few weeks and see if she responds."
“Most radically spectacular things were (once) considered impossible," Fellus said. "That means you have to start somewhere.”
Defina said that the legal definition of brain dead was coined in the 1960s and that there is a debate in the neurological community as to whether someone who meets these possibly outdated criteria — based on the technology of the day — can still recover.
"There are a lot of empirical problems with technology as archaic as that," he said.
Defina admits his theories are not universally accepted and that there is skepticism about his ideas in the medical community. Some of his methods, which include additional testing and consultations with experts, are also not covered under many insurance plans.
Fellus has said that when a patient is declared brain dead "the machine is unstoppable" and they almost always are taken off life support. But there are examples of cases in which the patient can still recover.
Neurologist Dr. Jonathan Fellus says is on the way to California from New York to work with Jahi. "Basically we need the dust to settle," he says. "It's difficult to see a clear picture [in a patient's brain after a cardiac arrest]. It's still not a clear picture."
RELATED: FAMILY WANTS CHRISTMAS WITH GIRL DECLARED BRAIN-DEAD AFTER TONSILS REMOVAL
There have also been cases in which a patient has signs of brain activity, but it's suppressed because the individual was given a high levels of drugs, Defina said.
That said, Defina can’t speculate further about Jahi’s possible recovery, saying at this point it would just be "guess work."
"No one can make that determination today," he said. "You want to err on the side of caution and not take away a life. You want to give her a few weeks and see if she responds."
So far, Jahi has shown some signs of responding. Specifically, Defina said he's been told by the family's attorney Chris Dolan that she has made movements when her parents speak to her.
Nailah Winkfield, mother of Jahi McMath, "Who wants to know the date and the time their child would die?"
Defina rejects any claims these movements are an involuntary muscle reflex, claiming the movements are only done when she hears her parents' voice.
Right now, Dolan is working with two hospitals in California and a hospital in the New York area to accept Jahi, Defina said. He declined to name them for fear media attention would affect the facilities' decision.
But another hospital may not accept Jahi if she has not been given a feeding tube, which the hospital has not done, Defina said.
Dolan did not return a request for comment to the Daily News.
The family of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy, won an 11th-hour court order on Monday requiring doctors to keep her connected to a breathing machine for at least another week, relatives said.
The family is desperately trying to keep Jahi alive.
The girl's mother, Nailah Winkfield, said she cried and hugged her relatives outside the hospital when she heard Monday's ruling that granted them until Jan. 7 to keep her on life support.
Hospital spokesman Sam Singer said the facility would comply with the judge's order. "This is one of the most tragic situations imaginable," he said. "A family has lost their young daughter. But unfortunately, Jahi is deceased. No amount of hope, prayer or medical procedures will bring her back."
But her family refuses to give up hope. "Who wants to know the date and the time their child would die?" she said. "I don't care what anyone has to say about what I'm doing. ... I have to do what is right for me and for Jahi."
The family has set up a gofundme account to accept donations to move Jahi. They have received more than $32,000 by Tuesday afternoon.
Sad case indeed I am still holding her up in Gods hands.
C
