The family of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old who was left brain dead last December after a routine sleep apnea surgery went wrong, has petitioned a California court to declare her alive, claiming that she is recovering and even responding to voice commands.
The Oakland family filed a petition with an Alameda County Superior Court
judge this week, KPIX-TV reported. McMath family attorney Chris Dolan insists he has "medical experts, including world-class experts on brain death, who will testify she is not brain dead."
"[Test results will] show that Jahi has brain activity and is not brain dead — that is an improvement from being brain dead. She also responds to her mother's voice," Dolan said, adding that he has EEG scans of brain activity that will prove it, according to KPIX-TV.
McMath, who underwent a tonsillectomy at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland in December, was eventually released to her family after the hospital tried to take her off a ventilator.
At the time, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo chose not to force the hospital to teat McMath, concluding Dec. 24 that there was "clear and convincing evidence that Jahi had suffered brain death."
The county coroner signed McMath's death certificate Dec. 12 despite the family's insistence that the girl was still alive.
She has spent the last several months at a Roman Catholic hospital in New Jersey at
private expense, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
UCSF's Dr. David Durand told KPIX-TV that the hospital was aware of the family's petition to have their daughter declared alive.
"The California courts, the Alameda County Coroner, and the State of California will evaluate any claims made by the family's attorneys and decide them in a lawful and just manner," Durand told the television station.
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