Photo of teenager Jahi McMath, brain dead more than two years, ignites life support debate
She looks so peaceful — her eyes closed, every hair in place, her head resting on a fluffy white pillow, her mother at her side.
But California teenager Jahi McMath has been brain dead for more than two years. And a photo of her shared over the weekend on Facebook has reignited public discussion about life support.
“Keep seeing posts declaring that the family just accept she is gone and unplug, but is she?” wrote one Facebook user. “Seems like this could be a big case to watch. Could change definitions of what is ‘dead.’”
The photo of Jahi and her mother, Nailah Winkfield, was published on a Facebook page called “Keep Jahi McMath on life support.”
“Jahi as healthy and beautiful as ever, proving the naysayers wrong,” read the caption. “A fighter, a warrior.”
Doctors declared Jahi dead after complications arose during tonsil surgery in December 2013 to treat her sleep apnea. Jahi, the second of four children in her family, suffered brain swelling and had a heart attack after the surgery. Her family is suing the hospital that performed the operation.
But the family refuses to believe that Jahi is gone. In 2014, after a judge ruled that Jahi should be taken off life support, the family moved from Oakland, Calif., to New Jersey, where the law allowed her to stay on life support. In December they filed a civil rights lawsuit to void her death certificate.
Public details about her medical condition come mostly from the family, which insists that she’s alive because her body is growing normally and her organs have shown no signs of decay. They’ve posted videos showing Jahi responding to verbal directions to move her fingers.
The latest Facebook picture prompted people to express both support for and anger toward the family.
“God bless jahi mcmath and her family,” wrote one person on Facebook. “I know someone who’s cousin was shot in the head. The doctors pushed his family to take him off life support so that his organs can be used. They refused and today he’s alive and though disabled he’s learning to communicate and use his body again.”
But others encouraged the family, in kind and not-so-kind ways, to let Jahi go.
Taking a loved one off of life support is difficult, trust me, but leaving them hooked up that long is cruel. Please let Jahi McMath go.
— C.J.M. (@charles270) March 21, 2016
The mother of brain-dead Jahi McMath says that her daughter is "as healthy as ever." Yeah, that isn't delusional at all
— Edward Current (@edwardcurrent) March 20, 2016
“All I can say is, that little girl is dead,” wrote one woman on Facebook. “It’s tragic and heartbreaking, but no amount of faith is going to reverse brain death. It’s not as if she’s in a coma, a diagnosis/prognosis of brain death literally means your child is dead. She’s not going to wake up. Ever. End of story. ... Let the poor girl go. This is just cruelty based in shallow denial and grief.”
The backlash to the photo was so strong and heated that the Facebook page administrators posted this warning.
“If you are here to spew your negative thoughts please kindly delete your comments and remove yourself because each and every comment will be read, and if deemed necessary, both you and your comments will be removed and you may be permanently banned,” they wrote.
“This mother and child have gone through a lot already, and this page is supposed to be for prayers, support and love. If you think you are unable to give those, please feel free to go to other pages that will tolerate your negative and heartless thoughts.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Photo of teenager Jahi McMath, brain dead more than two years, ignites life support debate."