Jahi McMath, girl who remained on life support for 4 years after tonsil surgery, has passed away
Four years after Jahi McMath was declared brain when a tonsillectomy went wrong, the family released a statement announcing that she had died
Her family has removed McMath from the machines that kept her breathing. The saga is now over for the case that caught national attention and ignited a debate over what constitutes brain death.
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McMath died June 22 in a New Jersey hospital, years after her parents Nailah Winkfield, and her stepfather, Marvin fought to keep her on life support.
The parents were by McMath’s side and will return to California from New jersey to bury her alongside family members, the family’s lawyer, Chris Dolan, said to the Washington Post.
Winkfield said in a statement that she is “devastated by the loss of her daughter who had showed tremendous strength and courage.”
“Jahi has forced the world to rethink the issue of brain death,” Winkfield said. “My every day was focused and revolved around Jahi. I loved seeing her every morning and kissing her goodnight every night. The hole in my heart left by her passing is huge.”
Winkfield, refused to take her daughter off of life support when she was declared brain dead in December 2013. The family is launched a malpractice suit. Dolan said the family will continue their legal fight and file a wrongful-death suit against the hospital, along with a federal civil rights case to reverse her initial death certificate. Jahi’s initial cause of death was listed as bleeding as a result of liver failure.
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The family claimed the Oakland hospital that performed the tonsil surgery failed to note an “anatomical anomaly” in Jahi that posed an increased risk of hemorrhaging. The mom also claimed when Jahi started bleeding the hospital ignored them because Jahi was African-American. Dolan said Jahi suffered an “anoxic brain injury” because of the severe blood loss after surgery. The doctors removed her tonsils, adenoids and soft palate to address the girl’s sleep apnea.
“No one was listening to us,” Winkfield recounted to the New Yorker in a story published earlier this year.
“I can’t prove it, but I really feel in my heart: if Jahi was a little white girl, I feel we would have gotten a little more help and attention.”
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