Family of California girl left brain dead after tonsillectomy sues hospital
Dan Whitcomb, Reuters
First posted: Tuesday, March 03, 2015 08:40 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, March 03, 2015 08:45 PM EST
LOS ANGELES - The family of a Northern California girl who made national headlines when she was declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy to correct sleep apnea sued the surgeon and hospital on Tuesday, alleging medical malpractice.
Jahi McMath, who was 13 when she suffered cardiac arrest in December 2013 following the surgery, remains on a ventilator in New Jersey at her family's insistence despite a death certificate issued by the coroner in Alameda County, California.
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by McMath's mother, stepfather and other family members, alleged that surgeon Frederick Rosen performed a "complex and risky" operation on the teen despite finding an anatomical abnormality that increased the chances of her hemorrhaging.
The suit also charged that doctors and nurses at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland failed to respond properly when McMath began coughing up blood after the surgery.
Representatives for the hospital could not be reached for comment on the legal action on Tuesday.
McMath's family disputes the finding that she is brain dead and petitioned a judge last year to revoke her death certificate and restore her status as a living person.
Family members cited statements from several doctors saying new medical tests performed on the girl found unmistakable signs of brain function, even awareness, at odds with a brain death diagnosis.
The family withdrew its petition after those assertions were challenged by a Stanford University pediatric neurology specialist appointed by the court to review the findings. But family members have said they have not abandoned the cause.
Experts say the case's unusual circumstances, including the rarity of a patient being kept on life support so long after brain activity was deemed to have stopped, could have implications for defining brain death in the future.
Reversal of the death certificate would let McMath's mother bring her home from New Jersey, where the family found a facility that would keep her on a ventilator. That state, unlike California, allows families to keep a relative on life support on religious grounds after a brain-death declaration, an attorney for the family has said.
Nailah Winkfield (R), mother of Jahi McMath, and Martin Winkfield arrive at the U.S. District Courthouse for a settlement conference in Oakland, California, January 3, 2014. Relatives of a California girl declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy want her moved to a long-term care facility, but face resistance from the hospital where she is due to be disconnected from a breathing machine on Monday. Under the latest court order in the case, doctors at Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland are barred from taking 13-year-old Jahi McMath off a ventilator without her family's consent before 5 p.m. local time on Jan. 7, relatives and hospital officials said. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach
Family of California girl left brain dead after tonsillectomy sues hospital | Wo
Dan Whitcomb, Reuters
First posted: Tuesday, March 03, 2015 08:40 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, March 03, 2015 08:45 PM EST
LOS ANGELES - The family of a Northern California girl who made national headlines when she was declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy to correct sleep apnea sued the surgeon and hospital on Tuesday, alleging medical malpractice.
Jahi McMath, who was 13 when she suffered cardiac arrest in December 2013 following the surgery, remains on a ventilator in New Jersey at her family's insistence despite a death certificate issued by the coroner in Alameda County, California.
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by McMath's mother, stepfather and other family members, alleged that surgeon Frederick Rosen performed a "complex and risky" operation on the teen despite finding an anatomical abnormality that increased the chances of her hemorrhaging.
The suit also charged that doctors and nurses at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland failed to respond properly when McMath began coughing up blood after the surgery.
Representatives for the hospital could not be reached for comment on the legal action on Tuesday.
McMath's family disputes the finding that she is brain dead and petitioned a judge last year to revoke her death certificate and restore her status as a living person.
Family members cited statements from several doctors saying new medical tests performed on the girl found unmistakable signs of brain function, even awareness, at odds with a brain death diagnosis.
The family withdrew its petition after those assertions were challenged by a Stanford University pediatric neurology specialist appointed by the court to review the findings. But family members have said they have not abandoned the cause.
Experts say the case's unusual circumstances, including the rarity of a patient being kept on life support so long after brain activity was deemed to have stopped, could have implications for defining brain death in the future.
Reversal of the death certificate would let McMath's mother bring her home from New Jersey, where the family found a facility that would keep her on a ventilator. That state, unlike California, allows families to keep a relative on life support on religious grounds after a brain-death declaration, an attorney for the family has said.
Nailah Winkfield (R), mother of Jahi McMath, and Martin Winkfield arrive at the U.S. District Courthouse for a settlement conference in Oakland, California, January 3, 2014. Relatives of a California girl declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy want her moved to a long-term care facility, but face resistance from the hospital where she is due to be disconnected from a breathing machine on Monday. Under the latest court order in the case, doctors at Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland are barred from taking 13-year-old Jahi McMath off a ventilator without her family's consent before 5 p.m. local time on Jan. 7, relatives and hospital officials said. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach
Family of California girl left brain dead after tonsillectomy sues hospital | Wo