SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A California judge ruled that a teen girl who was declared brain dead more than three years ago after a tonsillectomy may technically still be alive, allowing a malpractice lawsuit against the hospital to move forward and possibly setting up the family to have her care paid for if they succeed.
Alameda County Judge Stephen Pulido ruled Tuesday that it’s up to a jury to determine whether Jahi McMath is alive, which would increase the damages jurors could award if they determine doctors at Children’s Hospital in Oakland botched a routine operation to remove the girl’s tonsils.
In California, “non-economic” damages such as pain and suffering are capped at $250,000 for medical malpractice. But juries can award unlimited “economic” damages far above that cap for ongoing medical care, which Jani’s family could not claim if she were declared dead.
Jahi’s case has been at the center of national debate over brain death since the girl’s mother refused to remove her daughter from life support after doctors declared the then-13-year-old dead after surgery in December 2013.
Doctors say she had irreversible brain damage from a lack of oxygen and suffered cardiac arrest. A coroner signed a death certificate the following month.