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Video Posted Online Claims To Show Jahi McMath Responding To Touch

OAKLAND (CBS SF) – Nearly a month after 13-year-old Jahi McMath was taken to a care facility, a video has been posted online that claims to show the girl declared brain dead responding to touch.

In the short video, a person rubs ice along both feet of a girl, who is said to be McMath. When the ice comes in contact, the girl's feet and toes are seen moving.

An unidentified woman's voice was also heard in the video. "Jahi responds to cold stuff," she said. "I don't understand how a brain-dead person can do that."

According to the Contra Costa Times, the video was posted on the "Keep Jahi McMath on Life Support" Facebook page on Sunday before it was unexplainably taken down. The same video was seen on YouTube as of Monday.

Dr. Neal A Slatkin, a neurologist at San Jose's Hospital of the Valley, told the newspaper that spontaneous movements aren't rare in brain-dead patients.

The 13-year-old was declared brain dead following complications during tonsil surgery at Children's Hospital Oakland on December 9th. After her family launched a legal challenge to keep the girl on a ventilator, McMath was taken out of the hospital and into an unnamed facility on January 5th.

McMath has since received breathing and feeding tubes, according to family attorney Christopher Dolan.

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