Calif. Cases Highlight A Growing Resistance To Brain-Death Diagnosis
Attorney Chris Dolan has become a leader in the movement after he took on the case of Jahi McMath, an Oakland teen who had been declared brain dead in 2013.
The Mercury News:
Jahi McMath: Brain Death Cases Similar To Oakland Teen Found Throughout State
Attorney Chris Dolan got a familiar phone call this past month. It was from a Vacaville family who said their 2-year-old son was declared brain-dead. They planned to fight the diagnosis and wanted the San Francisco lawyer's help. Since taking on the case of Jahi McMath, an Oakland teen declared brain-dead in 2013 following complications from tonsil surgery, Dolan has became an unlikely leader in a growing resistance to the medical establishment's long-standing determination that the loss of brain activity equals death. (DeBolt, 5/18)
The Mercury News:
Walnut Creek Hospital Mistakenly Diagnoses Woman Brain-Dead
A year ago, four John Muir Medical Center doctors told Mohammad Meshkin his daughter was brain-dead. The hospital refused to operate on Anahita Meshkin's infected, fractured hip because it said it would not be ethical to treat a dead person. (Gafni and DeBolt, 5/17)