The Story of Jahi Continues

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Why Jahi's Mother doesn't think she is dead:

Why Jahi McMath's Mom Is Sure Her Daughter Isn't Brain Dead - ABC News

Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Jahi's mother (nor her youngest child) would not be receiving WIC if her youngest was 6 and not pregnant when Jahi had her surgery. Maximum child age for WIC is when a child hits their fifth birthday. Depending on state WIC ends for a mother a few months post birth or after a year of breast feeding.

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WIC is but a small part of the welfare package. I have been in the room when the social worker comes in to speak to an indigent new mom. Not including housing and Medicaid, altogether the welfare a mother is entitled to is around $600 a month per kid in my state. I'm sure it varies by cost of living.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Like like, a thousand times like!

And a thousand more. The whole thing makes me queasy. Just how poorly can some people behave and still live with themselves? A screenwriter couldn't write this stuff and sell it to a producer; it would be shot down for lack of credibility.

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The anger is VERY easy to understand.

(snip)

In short, compassion for Jahi, her siblings, everyone that is ignorant enough to believe the lies, and mostly for our sisters and brothers in scrubs makes us terrifically angry. The question is, why aren't you?

Even so, if indeed these things about expensive purses and liquor and welfare and WIC are true as you (and many others) state, referring to Jahi as a 'corpse' and the rage being expressed by people who have nothing to do with this family just shocks me. Nurses displaying this amount of rage, resentment and joking about the 'corpse' is more about us than them.

We're getting more taken out of our paycheck to fund corporate 'welfare' than any grief and guilt crazed family -- hell, all of them together -- take out of our paychecks. The nurses et al who took care of and take care of Jahi get paid, they have choices, I don't get how they've been victimized by Jahi's family. No offense, I am trying to understand the outrage :) And not trying to defend anyone's behavior, just questioning 'ours' as nurses. Is it a slap in the face to perform cares on a patient like Jahi? Is it immoral? I don't see how anyone of us is being personally attacked -- which is what the sentiment of the posts seem to say. That's my perception, I'll own it.

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WIC is but a small part of the welfare package. I have been in the room when the social worker comes in to speak to an indigent new mom. Not including housing and Medicaid, altogether the welfare a mother is entitled to is around $600 a month per kid in my state. I'm sure it varies by cost of living.

Wonderful, considering my grandchildren's father is court ordered to pay a whopping $125 a month for both of them and he does not even pay that. I can just see my daughter online begging for Michael Kors and booze money while somebody else cares for her children.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Even so, if indeed these things about expensive purses and liquor and welfare and WIC are true as you (and many others) state, referring to Jahi as a 'corpse' and the rage being expressed by people who have nothing to do with this family just shocks me. Nurses displaying this amount of rage, resentment and joking about the 'corpse' is more about us than them.

We're getting more taken out of our paycheck to fund corporate 'welfare' than any grief and guilt crazed family -- hell, all of them together -- take out of our paychecks. The nurses et al who took care of and take care of Jahi get paid, they have choices, I don't get how they've been victimized by Jahi's family. No offense, I am trying to understand the outrage :) And not trying to defend anyone's behavior, just questioning 'ours' as nurses. Is it a slap in the face to perform cares on a patient like Jahi? Is it immoral? I don't see how anyone of us is being personally attacked -- which is what the sentiment of the posts seem to say. That's my perception, I'll own it.

Not if, they are. Look on their Instagram pages. They love to show off what they buy..

Jahi has been declared dead for OVER a year now. So she is a corpse & they are abusing her corpse.

Would you want to be assigned care to a family like that? This sets a whole new precedent to end of life care & when to pronounce brain death. At least that is what their lawyer is trying to do.

Why are you not more upset over this?

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Even so, if indeed these things about expensive purses and liquor and welfare and WIC are true as you (and many others) state, referring to Jahi as a 'corpse' and the rage being expressed by people who have nothing to do with this family just shocks me. Nurses displaying this amount of rage, resentment and joking about the 'corpse' is more about us than them.

We're getting more taken out of our paycheck to fund corporate 'welfare' than any grief and guilt crazed family -- hell, all of them together -- take out of our paychecks. The nurses et al who took care of and take care of Jahi get paid, they have choices, I don't get how they've been victimized by Jahi's family. No offense, I am trying to understand the outrage :) And not trying to defend anyone's behavior, just questioning 'ours' as nurses. Is it a slap in the face to perform cares on a patient like Jahi? Is it immoral? I don't see how anyone of us is being personally attacked -- which is what the sentiment of the posts seem to say. That's my perception, I'll own it.

Jahi IS a corpse! A dead body. A no longer live person. There is no way to sugar coat that, but I have not seen anyone pisparage her. She is a poor, unlucky, and unfortunately dead teenager, no one holds anything against her (at least that I have seen). it is her mother and uncle that we direct our rage at, and as previously stated, I think it is completely justified.

Your profile says you have 23 years experience. Were you ever forced to care for a corpse? Other than possibly keeping one on life support for transplant for a day or two? As a nurse, I cannot think of anything more distasteful, or more discouraging than to be asked to do that, and it angers many of us that some of us have had to do so in this case. Once the girl is buried and the case goes to court, HIPAA regs will cease to apply, and at that time we can ask some of the poor unfortunate people who had to care for what that does to morale. Maybe then your opinion will change, but if not then you are entitled to whatever you want to think. Expect most of us to disagree with you.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

I'm going to assume you didn't read all of the threads then. Because the hospital Jahi was at to have her original surgery went above & beyond for her family after things went south for her.

Visitors said the family was rude & obnoxious.

Then they slammed the doctors & nurses in interviews.

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I would be very curious to hear the direct experiences of people taking care of Jahi, including those at Children's. This will be an amazing book one day. I recently read the book "Five Days at Memorial" about the hospital in New Orlean's in the aftermath of Katrina. I recommend that book to every nurse, because it puts you right there with the people making all those unbelievable decisions they made (for good or ill). What it's 'like' being a nurse performing your duties in outrageous circumstances -- which Jahi's situation clearly was -- is something you could only know if you are there doing it. So they have my complete respect, having been there. I have no doubt my personal opinions will change knowing more than I do. I had some time to spend over the last few days to read extensively on line, follow up on questions that came up, reading both 'sides' of the story. I'm fairly well versed in the happenings that everyone else knows.

I'm not surprised that Jahi's case has been so controversial, not one bit.

If Jahi's mother and lawyer are telling us the truth, Jahi is more PVS than brain dead, especially since she has not rotted in the bed. And yes I've cared for patients in that particular state. The family is CERTAIN that the patient communicates, and capable of some rather complex interactions that are simply NOT possible. But they are as dedicated to keep their loved one bed-sore free and comfortable as I've ever seen, they go to an extreme you don't see in healthier cases. It's all they have left, and they ain't letting go without a fight, for whatever personal reasons. I've often thought the family is 'animating' the patient far more than is actually happening. I've not felt distaste or disgust, but I have felt very sorry for them, and the poor patient who might rather die but has no say.

It's a far stretch to me to see a picture of a name brand hand bag and assume it was purchased directly from donations meant for Jahi's medical needs. Maybe you're right. But we don't KNOW. No one knows but the family. I suppose Jahi's family are not required to explain every nice thing they accumulate to the public. I don't suppose they should all wear black and cover the mirrors and never laugh again either.

I guess my point is yes, we're all free to judge and share it with others. But it's more about us than whatever that family is doing, because the information used to justify the assumptions falls short of explaining the disgust and rage I see in words here. My opinion, of course. As a nurse myself, I'm just askin'.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

How else does she get the funds? Where does the money come from when she doesn't work? The magical money tree in the backyard? If so, I want one.

So then the 5 independent neurologist who tested Jahi were wrong. Did you see the recent MRI of Jahi's brain?

If she was in PVS would she be able to thermoregulate?

You know you won't be able to hear from direct caregivers due to HIPPA.

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Organized chaos is right! There is a post made by the mother stating that she enjoyed eating stinky fish with her entire family in waiting room last Christmas because it disturbed other families. She was enjoying causing trouble on purpose. The mother posted pictures of the Micheal Kors bags, lobster dinners and expensive liquor on Instagram. We didn't speculate, she PROVED what she was using the money for. This is a welfare mom, no way she spent her own money on this stuff!

Gooselady, I don't think you read enough. Over a year ago 4 (or possibly 5) board certified neurologists did all of the mandated tests. The bedside exam showed zero reflexes, she failed the apnea tests, the had no blood flow to the brain, the mri showed that the brain had little to no structure and there was EEG silence. These aren't some non educated ignorant people, they are qualified medical doctors and the tests were repeated several days apart and every regulation was followed to the letter. This is not pvs. Unlike you and I (unqualified to make the diagnosis) these docs were highly qualified and they made the diagnosis based on accepted standards. She was issued a death certificate. No coroner would have issued a death certificate for a patient in PVS.

As for how much she has or has not deteriorated, we have no proof either way. She was treated as an inpatient for 9 or 10 months, and not ONE medical professional who treated her has said a single word to back up the scamfam or the lawyer. Don't you think if their claims were in the least bit true, they would have asked someone to come forward? They would have signed the HIPAA release and allowed the caregivers to speak. Instead they asked for opinions by unqualified people who never saw the girl in person. This child could be a 50 lb shadow of her former self with necrotic tissue everywhere and we won't know because HIPAA prevents anyone from saying anything unless the family asks them to do so. You are listening to the scam/hype/lies of the family who have personally posted enough on line to give us solid proof that this is all about money and you said "if what they say is true", of course its NOT true!! They don't care about Jahi, if they did, they would have buried her with dignity. They don't care about the other children, if they did, they wouldn't have left them 5000 miles away without their mom.

Finally, YES! We DO know what we would do. As nurses, we would not want to care for her because she is dead! We aren't morticians. We care for live people, not dead bodies! We would kick and scream and do everything in our power not to take care of a corpse.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

No one has bashed Jahi, we feel terrible for what has happened. But her mother, uncle & attorney are all out for financial gain & that is what makes us sick.

Her mother should be back at home in California where she has other children & a grandchild. We can't imagine the pain she feels but Jahi has been dead for over a year. No herbs, minerals or voodoo will bring her back.

The dirty lawyer Dolan. He is pumping is own agenda. He is more sick and twisted than all of them.

There is a reason no real neurologist would stand in their corner to back them when they tried to get her death certificate reversed.

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