# Parents of Jahi McMath (brain dead child) allowed to take daughter out of hospital **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 3, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833 "2014-01-03T22:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/261 "2018-03-30T01:34:53Z")
Keep in mind, we’re hearing soley from her family’s camp, and if you’ve been following her mother’s blog, she’s not the most reliable of sources, and there’s been a LOT of backlash against her. (For one, she’s posted images of designer purses and shoes she’s bought, despite the solicitations of funds for Jahi’s care) Quite frankly, I’m skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/262 "2018-06-29T19:09:38Z")
Updating this thread: > [@](#): > > More than four years later, Jahi has now died, her family’s lawyer announced Thursday in a statement to The Washington Post. > > She died on June 22 in the New Jersey hospital alongside her mother, Nailah Winkfield, and her stepfather, Marvin. On a death certificate, a doctor in the New Jersey hospital listed Jahi’s preliminary cause of death as bleeding as a result of liver failure, the family’s lawyer, Chris Dolan, said. > **[Jahi McMath, the Calif. girl in life-support controversy, is now dead](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/29/jahi-mcmath-the-calif-girl-declared-brain-dead-4-years-ago-is-taken-off-life-support/)** > > The 13-year-old's case became the center of an ethical debate over the line between life and death. ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/263 "2018-06-29T21:36:16Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Updating this thread: > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/29/jahi-mcmath-the-calif-girl-declared-brain-dead-4-years-ago-is-taken-off-life-support/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/29/jahi-mcmath-the-calif-girl-declared-brain-dead-4-years-ago-is-taken-off-life-support/) > [@](#): > > ”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.” > [@](#): > > “My daughter died on June 22nd, 2018, not December 12, 2013,” her mother said in the statement. “Jahi McMath was not brain dead or any other kind of dead. She was a little girl who deserved to be cared for and protected not called a dead body.” Amazing how she has stubbornly stuck to her delusion right until the very end. Hopefully she’ll now realize that she has living children to tend to and maybe they won’t resent her too much. Seriously though, this woman will require some intense grief counseling because she still hasn’t fully accepted the outcome of her daughter’s surgery. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/264 "2018-06-30T08:26:10Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I live in the Bay Area, so I’ve been aware of this case a little longer than most of you. One odd thing is that it made the local news the day Jahi died, before taking the body off the respirator became an issue. I was puzzled at the time since it didn’t seem newsworthy to me - why did the public need to be informed that a thirteen year old girl had died of complications from a tonsillectomy? The public fight over keeping the body on “life support” hadn’t started yet. Looking back on it, I see that the family started a PR campaign as soon as they were told Jahi was brain dead. I can see the potential that this entire thing may in fact be narcissistic grandstanding by one or both parents, and may in fact have absolutely nothing to do with religion or with grieving. ---
**Author:** ![thornyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@thornyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thornyrose)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/265 "2018-07-02T13:13:23Z")
The family should never be forced to make this sort of decision. The doctors have the training and knowledge and RESPONSIBILITY to make this decision. Kindly, but firmly. This child has no brain function. To draw out the death into months of indecision and agony for the parents is Cruel. To force the parents to make a decision is even crueler. To offer organ donation from the child 1- offers hope and life to many. 2- May offer the parents, and others, a way through grief and a way to find meaning in her death. [https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australian-kids-are-donating-organs-to-save-others-lives/news-story/71a5b40527efcaaa93c8f0320156e74b](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australian-kids-are-donating-organs-to-save-others-lives/news-story/71a5b40527efcaaa93c8f0320156e74b) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/266 "2018-07-04T11:15:38Z")
> [@thornyrose](#): > > The family should never be forced to make this sort of decision. The doctors have the training and knowledge and RESPONSIBILITY to make this decision. Kindly, but firmly. This child has no brain function. To draw out the death into months of indecision and agony for the parents is Cruel. To force the parents to make a decision is even crueler. > > To offer organ donation from the child 1- offers hope and life to many. 2- May offer the parents, and others, a way through grief and a way to find meaning in her death. > > [https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australian-kids-are-donating-organs-to-save-others-lives/news-story/71a5b40527efcaaa93c8f0320156e74b](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australian-kids-are-donating-organs-to-save-others-lives/news-story/71a5b40527efcaaa93c8f0320156e74b) I think this situation was one where the doctors did make the decision, informed the family, and in response the family started a circus with the mother as the star attraction and the dead daughter as the ultimate prop. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833/267 "2018-07-04T16:05:44Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > I think this situation was one where the doctors did make the decision, informed the family, and in response the family started a circus with the mother as the star attraction and the dead daughter as the ultimate prop. I’m inclined to be a little more charitable toward the family. They couldn’t accept reality, so they rejected it in favor of a delusion. That is, I think the family’s position, wrong as it is, is sincere. This is a fairly common reaction to tragedy. What’s different in this case is how immediate and complete the reaction was, and how the family made it into cause célèbre. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-child-allowed-to-take-daughter-out-of-hospital/677833.md?page=13)