A court ruled on Monday that 13-year-old Jahi McMath, who lost brain activity following surgery but whose parents are fighting to keep her alive, will not be taken off life support for the time being.
The teenage Oakland resident has been the subject of much media coverage, debate and back-and-forth between Children's Hospital officials and the McMath family. Jahi has spent more than two weeks on a ventilator at the Bay Area medical facility, after she was first admitted for a tonsillectomy on Dec. 9. Doctors have maintained that Jahi is brain dead, and won't come back to life, CNN reported. But the family insists that the 13-year-old is still living, and must stay that way.
A judge stated on Monday that the hospitals could take Jahi off of the machine after 5 p.m., but later said extended his order to 5 p.m. on January 7.
"This child was sitting on death row," attorney Christopher Dolan, who represented the McMath family, told CNN. "This was a facility that was hell bent on ending this child's life today, and a court stepped in."
Sam Singer, spokesperson for Children's Hospital Oakland, stated that doctors would observe the court's order.
The family, frustrated at growing disagreements with doctors, reportedly found a long-term care facility that agreed to house the ailing teen. But the hospital refused to give Jahi breathing ports and implant feeding tubes necessary to transport her to the new location.
In a statement released by Children's Hospital on Sunday, Dolan told medical officials that the family planned to move Jahi to a different facility, but the hospital said it hadn't received any notifications or correspondence from the center.
