Featured

Jahi McMath Declared Brain Dead, Family Still Fighting (UPDATED)

Published

11 years ago

December 27, 2013

The family of 13-yr-old Jahi McMath sat in a courtroom Tuesday morning listening to the testimony of an independent medical expert confirm that their daughter was brain dead.

Dr. Paul Fisher, Chief of Pediatric Neurology at Stanford Children’s Hospital and a known expert on brain death, was assigned by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo to conduct separate tests and report on the girl’s condition.

The family has been in an uphill legal battle with Children’s Hospital Oakland, fighting to keep the girl on life support.

She had begun bleeding profusely and went into cardiac arrest three days after a routi

ne tonsillectomy surgery on Dec. 9. Doctors later declared her brain dead.

Dr. David Durand, Chief of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, released a statement saying, “It would be wrong to give false hope that Jahi will ever come back to life.”

But Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, says she will not stop fighting for her daughter and still believes her daughter is alive.

“God has the final say, not the doctors,” she said. “The doctors think they know everything, but if they knew everything my daughter wouldn’t be brain dead.”

The hospital was involved in a similar conflict with a patient’s family in 2011, in the case of 1-yr-old Hiram Lawrence, shot in the head by a stray bullet and declared brain dead. The family complained about what they perceived as the hospital’s eagerness to take the infant off life support, even discussing organ donation with the family.

Rev. Dr. Harold R. Mayberry and other clergy members addresses the press about complaints alleging Children's Hospital insensitive to the family of Jahi McMath.

Rev. Dr. Harold R. Mayberry (center), family of Jahi McMath, and Pastor Gerald Agee (right) addresses the press about complaints alleging Children’s Hospital of being insensitive to the family of Jahi McMath.

Rev. Dr. Harold Mayberry, senior pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church and Pastor Gerald Agee, senior pastor of Friendship Christian Center and president of the Pastors of Oakland, called a press conference last Sunday on behalf of Oakland’s clergy community to show their support for Jahi’s family.

Attorney John Burris and Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks also attended the press conference.

Mayberry said he was concerned about the lack of sympathy given to the family.

“Anytime a hospital administrator, whether he or she is a doctor or any physician in the hospital, says: ‘she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead and we want the courts to say ‘no, no, no’ – (that) represents a lack of sensitivity,” Mayberry said.

“At very best, perhaps the hospital should discipline that official, at very least, that official needs sensitivity training,” he added.

“…when you are wrong, you’re wrong,” Agee said. “You don’t need a judge to tell you you’re wrong. You need to do the right thing.”

Children’s hospital denies the statement was made, and says hospital representatives have been sympathetic to the family. Rev. Mayberry tried to hand a letter to Dr. Durand, urging the hospital to take a stand in regards to the reports of improper treatment.

However, was not allowed to deliver the letter, but an assistant met him downstairs and stated she would deliver the letter to him.

A large crowd marched last Monday in the streets near Children’s Hospital Oakland for Jahi with

March for Jahi on Dec. 23rd at Children’s Hospital. Photo by Adam Turner.

signs reading, “We love you” and “Doctors can be wrong.” Winkfield said she is thankful for the support of those rallying behind Jahi – many of them people she has never met before.

“It makes me feel better because they believe just as well as I do that God has the final say on my daughter,” Winkfield said.

Later on Monday, the Alameda County Superior Court judge extended the temporary restraining order to Dec. 30, which allowed for Dr. Fisher to conduct tests and give his report Tuesday morning.

Judge Grillo ruled against the family, no longer requiring the hospital to continue additional medical care to Jahi, but the ventilator will stay hooked up until 5 p.m. on Dec. 30. He offered words of sympathy to Winkfield, encouraging her to find comfort in her religion and in the love from her family.

The family did not say what their next move would be following the judge’s ruling but they spent Christmas by her bedside, praying for a miracle.

Thursday night the family announced that a long term care facility was willing to take Jahi but a feeding and breathing tube needs to be implemented for safe transport. Children’s Hospital is unwilling to complete the procedure because the girl has been declared brain dead and therefore legally deceased.

Children’s Hospital spokesperson has also noted that Judge Grillo’s ruling only permits the hospital to keep her on a ventilator until 5pm on December 30th.

The family attorney Christopher Dolan is expected to file for another restraining order Monday morning to give the family more time to transport Jahi to a longterm care facility.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Kings Beat Heat in OT

Don't Miss

Cynthia Foreman’s Signature Products in a Walgreens Near You

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

In 1974, Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter Visited the Home of Oakland Black Black Political Activist Virtual Murrell While Running for President

civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Published

2 days ago

January 3, 2025

Oakland Post

Virtual Murrell chats with Jimmy Carter two years before Carter was elected president in 1976. Courtesy photo.

By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post

On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.

A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.

Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.

After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)

The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.

As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.

A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.

On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of January 1 – 7, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 1 – 7, 2025

Published

3 days ago

January 2, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Racially Motivated Violence Against Black Teen Prompts $10 Million Claim Against LAUSD 

In December, a second altercation, on a video shared with news media, showed 4 to 6 boys attacking a Black student and using racial slurs. The video also shows a person in a safety vest trying to stop the fight and telling them to “handle it after school.” Then, the video ends. 

Published

6 days ago

December 30, 2024

Oakland Post

(Left to right) Civil Rights Attorney Caree Harper comforts the victim’s mother as she becomes emotional when describing the attacks on her son while her attorney Bradley C. Gage listens. Verdugo Hills High School on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Tujunga, CA. (Solomon O. Smith /for California Black Media)

By Solomon O. Smith, California Black Media

A distraught mother and her legal team announced a $10 million lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Dec. 16, alleging that her son was the target of bullying because of his race.

“CS DOE is a 14-year-old African American student at Verdugo High School. He is a Ninth Grader,” reads a statement the plaintiff’s attorneys shared with California Black Media (CBM).

“Almost from the first day of class (in August 2024), CS DOE was targeted by Latino students who called him racial slurs, physically attacked him and threatened to stab him.”

The family’s identity has not yet been released to the public due to safety concerns, according to their attorneys Bradley C. Gage and Caree Harper. The student’s mother is identified only as A.O. in the complaint.

The first video, filmed in August, showed several non-Black students punching and kicking a Black student in a bathroom on campus while yelling racial slurs. The mother claims that the students who attacked her son were not punished, and the administration asked her to move her son to another school for his safety.

“They wanted him to leave the school without giving any disciplinary action towards those students,” said the student’s mother. “He’s not going anywhere. He’s going to finish. I wanted him to at least stay until the December winter break, and then I was going to transfer schools for him.”

Before she could enroll her son in a different school the attacks escalated.

CS DOE, a 14-year-old freshman, left the school but was followed by a car, according to Gage. Several individuals exited the vehicle, one with a “large butcher knife.” A fight ensued and two people were stabbed. The Black student was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon but was later released into his mother’s custody.

The high school freshmen is scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Feb. 1, but Harper says she will reach out to the District Attorney and make the case against charging the young man.

“His mama had to go find him because he was hiding and fleeing for his very life,” said Harper.

According to the boy’s mother, the young student is still traumatized and has not been able to return to the area because it remains unsafe. Racial slurs have also been spray painted on their home.

“I’m sad. I’m devastated, you know,” said the mother. “I still feel like they’re after him. I still feel like they can kill him, possibly.”

The LAUSD and principal of Verdugo High School did not respond to CBM’s requests for comment.

If you are – or someone you know is – has experienced a hate crime or hate incident, please visit CAvsHate.org for more information and to find out what you can do about it.