Family wants to move girl left brain dead after tonsillectomy

Associated Press

Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013 | 6:20 p.m.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The family of a girl who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy wants to transfer her to a nursing home that is willing to keep caring for her even though doctors have said she is beyond recovery, a lawyer said Thursday.

Before the nursing home can accept the 13-year-old as a patient, however, doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland need to surgically insert breathing and feeding tubes into Jahi McMath that would allow the new facility to keep her body functioning, the lawyer, Christopher Dolan, said.

Dolan declined to identify the facility but said it is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and is not equipped to perform surgeries.

"Our position is, 'You don't want her, that's clear.' ... We are trying to find somebody who will see her other than a dead piece of meat and will treat her, help us get her out of there and into the arms of someone who will care for her rather than putting her in a body bag," said Dolan, who is representing Jahi's mother.

Children's Hospital has moved to take Jahi off life support, an action her family went to court to stop. A doctor at Children's Hospital and a court-appointed outside expert both concluded that she cannot recover because her brain is not functioning. A judge this week gave the hospital permission to remove the girl's ventilator after 5 p.m. Monday so the mother has time to appeal.

Dolan said he has asked the hospital for cooperation in preparing Jahi to be moved but had not heard back as of Thursday afternoon.

Children's Hospital spokeswoman Cynthia Chiarappa said the hospital was preparing a statement.

Jahi underwent tonsil surgery at Children's Hospital this month to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily from her mouth and went into cardiac arrest.