A video released over the weekend shows Jahi McMath, who was left in a precarious medical state following a botched tonsillectomy, alive and moving her toes. Jahi was the subject of a national debate recently as her parents fought a hospital that wanted to remove her life support.
Jahi was transferred from Oakland Children’s Hospital January 5 after a protracted legal battle between the family and the hospital which declared Jahi brain dead December 12 and sought to remove her from a ventilator.
Although the hospital maintains McMath is “brain dead,” her mother and family say she is alive following a tonsillectomy gone awry that has left her in an incapacitated state since early December. The family in the case says the hospital has been starving Jahi for three weeks.
Now, as The Blaze reports, a new video provides the first update since that transfer – showing Jahi alive and moving her toes:
This past Sunday, a video titled “Jahi McMath Alive?” was uploaded to YouTube showing what is said to be McMath’s foot move as it was simulated by an ice cube.
“Jahi responds to cold stuff,” an unidentified woman in the video said as she moved an ice cube along the girl’s feet, causing them to jerk upward. “I don’t understand how a brain dead person can do that.”
Watch the 16-second clip:
The Contra Costa Times reported that the video was posted Sunday on a Facebook page supporting McMath and her family, but it was later removed from the page without explanation. It is unclear who uploaded the footage and should be noted that it has not been officially confirmed to be McMath in the video.
Christopher Dolan, the attorney who took up for the parents by acting as their pro bono representative while they fought the hospital to provide adequate care and food and water for their daughter, has an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times explaining why he took the case. Dolan’s comments, without further ado, are quite compelling and give good food for thought.
