'Her healing begins today': Family of Jahi McMath say teenager is finally getting nutrition she needs after being declared brain dead a month 'Her healing begins today': Family of Jahi McMath say teenager is finally getting nutrition she needs after being declared brain dead a month ago. It also meant that she could be 'kissed on the lips' without a ventilator tube being in the way.
A spokesman for family said: 'Doctors are optimistic that her condition has stabilized and that her health is improving from when she was taken from Children's Hospital Oakland.'
Jahi suffered massive brain damage while recovering from an operation to remove her tonsils at Children’s Hospital Oakland, in California, on December 9.
Bleeding from the teenager's throat caused her heart to stop and, while doctors were able to resuscitate her, the resulting brain damage was so severe they declared her brain dead three days later. But the family disagreed with the doctors and successfully won a court order preventing the hospital from turning off her life support. They then organized for Jahi to be removed on Sunday to a secret facility in order to receive long-term care.
At first reports said that the condition of her body was worse than first thought due to lack of nutrition, and that an operation to secure feeding and breathing tubes was proving difficult. But today the family posted that it had been carried out successfully and they were still hopeful she could heal.
Her mother posted: 'Jahi had surgery this morning and it was successful!! Now I can kiss her lips without that damn tube in the way and now she can get nutrition!!
'Thank you Lord! My child will heal. I believe it.'
Jahi’s sister added that she will be 'finally receiving nutrition' for the first time since December 8. 'We are praying for a strong recovery,' she wrote. Despite the success of the operation, the family admitted that she remained in poor shape and her body has yet to be stabilized.
Chris Dolan, the lawyer who helped the family stop the hospital turning off Jahi's life support machine, hit back at criticism he had deceived a poor grieving family. Mr Dolan had been accused of being 'heartless' by the hospital for having a 'reckless disregard for the truth' and perpetuating the 'hoax' that Jahi could recover. 'The whole thing about me giving them false hope is a construction of public relations because they needed a villain,' Mr Dolan said.
'Not only that but it is patronising to Jahi’s family if not bordering on racist: these minority people are being deceived by this white lawyer, it was they seemed to be saying. 'The family made the decision. This case was about who decides what happens to a child, the parents or doctors. 'I always said there was very little hope she will recover but this family needed to be able to fight for this girl,' he added.
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Posted By: Jen Fad
Thursday, January 9th 2014 at 3:35AM
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