Posted: 12/24/2013 08:39:30 AM PST
Updated: 12/24/2013 08:44:23 AM PST
OAKLAND -- A neurologist who examined a 13-year-old girl kept alive on a ventilator since Dec. 12 will present his findings Tuesday morning at a closed court hearing in Oakland.
The hearing before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo comes a day after Dr. Paul Fisher was appointed to perform tests on Jahi McMath, the Oakland teen who developed complications after tonsil surgery on Dec. 9 and was declared brain-dead by doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland three days later. Fisher is chief of pediatric neurology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Fisher was expected to perform an electroencephalogram, or EEG, on Monday to measure heart activity and another test to determine if blood is flowing to Jahi's brain.
No matter the test results, Jahi will remain alive through Christmas. The judge on Monday ordered that she be kept on a ventilator through next week.
'Hope stays alive if she stays alive,' said Christopher Dolan, attorney for Jahi's family. Dolan also said he was grateful 'that this family won't be attending a funeral on Christmas.'
Fisher will present his findings in a closed hearing at 9:30 a.m. in downtown Oakland. Grillo has not said when he will rule on whether the hospital can take Jahi off the ventilator when his order expires. Grillo issued a temporary restraining order last Friday, barring the hospital from removing Jahi from the breathing machine.
'It is our position that no doctor's determination can end a life without parental consent,' Dolan said Monday.
Jahi began bleeding heavily shortly after the surgery, and went into cardiac arrest. Since she was declared brain-dead, the family has been engaged in a public battle with hospital administrators in a case that has gained national attention. The family has said it is outraged by the treatment it has received at the hospital, saying that the hospital's chief of pediatrics told them the girl needed to be taken off the ventilator 'quickly' and that another hospital official expressed disbelief that the family didn't understand that Jahi was 'dead, dead, dead, dead.'
After Monday's hearing, chief of pediatrics Dr. David Durand spoke to the media for the first time and said that Jahi's condition was the result of a 'very complex surgery. It was more complex than just a tonsillectomy.'
When pressed, Durand said he was unable to discuss the case any further. Hospital officials have repeatedly declined to discuss specifics of the case, citing medical privacy laws and asking the family's permission to release information.
The family also wants to bring in a second expert: Dr. Paul A. Byrne, neonatologist, pediatrician and clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Toledo's College of Medicine, who has clashed with other physicians over the diagnosis of 'brain-dead.' Byrne, a devout Catholic, has said that brain death is not true death, a belief that contrasts with the majority of the medical establishment.
Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH. Contact David DeBolt at 510-262-2728 and follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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