OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The family of an Oakland teenager legally declared brain dead has petitioned an Alameda County judge to have her declared “alive.”
13-year-old Jahi McMath was declared brain dead at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland in December after she suffered cardiac arrest during what was supposed to be a routine operation for sleep apnea.
Chris Dolan, the family’s attorney said he has “Medical experts, including world-class experts on brain death who will testify she is not brain dead.”
Dolan says test results “show that Jahi has brain activity and is not brain dead – that is an improvement from being brain dead. She also responds to her mother’s voice.” Dolan says there is visual and EEG evidence of brain activity that will be shared at a planned press conference Friday.
An Alameda County Coroner signed a death certificate for Jahi on December 12th, but her family insists the girl is not brain dead.
UCSF Doctor David Durand said the hospital was aware of the petition, and that the hospital trusts that “the California courts, the Alameda County Coroner and the State of California will evaluate any claims made by the family’s attorneys and decide them in a lawful and just manner.”
He also said that no one at the hospital had been in contact with the family since Jahi was released to the coroner on January 5th, 2014.
