Family of girl who was declared brain dead 4 years ago is trying to prove she is still alive

The family of Jahi McMath, who has been on a ventilator for four years ever since doctors declared her brain dead, say they will continue fighting for the teenage girl for as long as she wants them to.

Jahi has become the center of a national debate over brain death ever since her mother Nailah Winkfield refused to take her off life support when doctors said the then-13-year-old had died following routine tonsil surgery in December 2013.

Doctors at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California declared that Jahi had irreversible brain damage and a coroner signed the teenager's death certificate the following month.

But Jahi's family disagreed with the decision and have been fighting an uphill, and costly, battle ever since in a bid to have Jahi's death certificate rescinded.

In an interview with the New Yorker this week, the girl's mother said she will never give up unless that's what Jahi wants. 

'I know that things change - people change. If Jahi has given up and doesn't want to be here anymore, I'm just going to go with what she wants,' Winkfield said. 

Jahi remains connected to a ventilator and has been receiving 24-hour medical care in New Jersey for several years now. She was moved there in 2014, with the help of crowdfunding, because it is the only state where families can reject a brain death ruling if it goes against their religion.

In a win for the family, a California judge ruled last September that Jahi may technically still be alive, which has allowed a malpractice lawsuit against the hospital to move forward.

A jury will now be tasked with deciding whether Jahi is in fact still alive.

That trial date has not yet been set, but an initial hearing with the judge, family and hospital is scheduled to take place on March 18, according to court records.

The family are seeking the unprecedented verdict from a jury so they can move Jahi back to California where doctors would be compelled to care for her.

'I am planning this big-ass welcome-home party in my head,' Winkfield told the New Yorker. 'I know my city really, really loves us.'

When ordering the case to trial, the judge relied on the testimony of a well-known critic of the way experts diagnose brain death, Dr Alan Shewmon, who examined Jahi over several hours.

The retired neurologist also examined dozens of videos shot by the girl's mother from 2014 to 2016 that showed her moving certain parts of her body.

Winkfield has publicly released some of those clips, which show Jahi's fingers twitching and her toes wiggling.

Shewmon said in court documents that the videos showed that Jahi was still alive.

He described her as 'an extremely disabled but very much alive teenage girl'.

The retired neurologist also said that while Jahi may have fulfilled the requirements to be declared brain dead back in 2013, over time 'her brain has recovered the ability to generate electrical activity, in parallel with its recovery of ability to respond to commands.'

A doctor who examines Jahi every three months for the family has testified previously that Jahi had reached puberty. Her family say she got her period for the first time about seven months after moving to New Jersey.

While Winkfield acknowledges that Jahi's brain is severely and irreparably damaged, she doesn't believe her daughter is dead.

Winkfield said almost every day she asks her daughter if she is okay or if she is suffering to make sure she definitely wants to keep fighting.

Jahi answers her questions by squeezing her mother's hand, according to Winkfield.

'When I see that I think, who am I to not want to live? Because many days I do want to die. But then I see her every day, trying her best,' Winkfield said.

She told the New Yorker that she often thinks back to a conversation she had with Jahi and her other children about 12 months prior to the operation.

Winkfield said she had been joking that she would run their lives forever but her son said that he would outlive her.

She said she joked that she would be put on a ventilator, but Jahi didn't know what the word meant and she had to explain that it was a 'machine that keeps you alive'.

'I'll never forget: the rest of the kids laughed, and Jahi said, 'Well, if something ever happens to me, make sure you keep me on one of those.'

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