A teen who has been considered brain dead for a year now is currently in the middle of a heated legal battle and debate on ethics and the real definition of brain death after her parents insisted the course reverse its previous ruling that she's already brain dead.
Jahi McMath was 13 years old when she underwent complicated procedures that could have corrected her problem with sleep apnea, which made it hard for her to breathe properly when sleeping (her mother, Nailah, mentioned it was tonsillectomy in some of her interviews).
The teen was already showing signs of recovery from the operation when she started to bleed and eventually lost consciousness. Medical reports suggested she suffered from cardiac arrest, around which time there might have been not enough oxygen delivered to her brain. She was then hooked to life support and was diagnosed to be legally dead.
Her family, however, didn't accept such diagnosis and brought the matter to the court who assigned Paul Graham Fisher to investigate the condition. He then confirmed the initial diagnosis using the data provided by the EEG, among others. The coroner also signed a death certificate, although unofficial, stating the same.
A year after, the battle rages on. October this year, the same doctor who stood as the court's independent examiner re-stated that he saw no sign that the teen is still alive. Other health experts believed that her movements may be attributed to Lazarus Effect, which is common among brain-dead patients, this following a video her family showing Jahi "answering" to her mother's instructions.
On the side of her family, they wanted the court to declare her not brain dead and to compel the hospital to continue treating her. More than 3 medical experts suggested that new tests proved her brain showed some activity. Fisher, however, attributed these results to other factors including the fact the said examinations have been carried outside a health care facility.
