The Story of Jahi Continues

Published

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

Ok, am I the only one who wants to see Jahi give a "thumbs up"??!!!

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QT, thumbs up? For being dead?

I think everyone here feels sorry for Jahi, her family is another story.

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So if she ever gets taken off a vent and all other fluids, what would happen to her? Would her heart stop? Start becoming necrotic?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
So if she ever gets taken off a vent and all other fluids, what would happen to her? Would her heart stop? Start becoming necrotic?

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Her heart would stop within minutes as she has no respiratory center or brainstem and as such has not had spontaneous respirations since December 2013. She is on full assist control on the vent.

Stopping fluid would be less dramatic and quick but eventually the heart would stop from dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalance.

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Justbeachy is correct.

I almost typed she would die within minutes, but more accurately, she would prove beyond a shadow of even the mother's doubt that she is dead.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
QT, thumbs up? For being dead?

I think everyone here feels sorry for Jahi, her family is another story.

I interpreted it as the poster wants Jahi to give a thumbs up sign- to show she is really following commands. Hard to think giving a thumbs up would be a reflexive movement.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
So if she ever gets taken off a vent and all other fluids, what would happen to her? Would her heart stop? Start becoming necrotic?

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The only reason her heart continues to beat is because the ventilator is oxygenating her blood. A heart can beat outside of a body, as long as it receives oxygen - rich blood. So without the vent, her heart would stop within minutes and then she would be indisputably dead. Hopefully this video will work to give an example...

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So if she ever gets taken off a vent and all other fluids, what would happen to her? Would her heart stop? Start becoming necrotic?

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

One of the tests to establish brain death is the apnea test. The patient is taken off the vent and observed to see if there is ANY respiratory drive whatsoever. Jahi had none. She never once struggled to breathe. What would happen to anyone who couldn't breathe? Her heart would cease to receive oxygen rich blood. Like anyone else in that situation, her heart would stop beating, probably within only a few minutes.

As for necrosis, well, what happens to any body with both a dead brain AND a dead circulatory system?

The apnea test explained:

Brain death diagnosis and apnea test safety

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I interpreted it as the poster wants Jahi to give a thumbs up sign- to show she is really following commands. Hard to think giving a thumbs up would be a reflexive movement.

I think you are right, I misinterpreted the post. Dead people don't give thumbs up, so I doubt anyone is waiting for that to happen.

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Specializes in MDS/ UR.
Ok, am I the only one who wants to see Jahi give a "thumbs up"??!!!

I believe everyone here would want Jahi to be awake, alive and healthy.

MY personal happy ending for Jahi would be for the world to know nothing of her.

I would rather that she had never had the health struggles or calamities that came after the surgery or the craziness that ensued. I would like to have had her just live out her life however it unfolded.

Sadly, her life and story were written another way.

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Ruas is correct, and isn't that what we want for all children?

In Jahi's case, she died over a year ago. No one is going to see her wake up, give a thumbs up, or anything else that live people do. Unfortunately, she isn't the only victim though. Her siblings are being neglected by her mother, and that makes me just as sad as Jahi's death does.

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Thanks for the answers guys!! :)

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