So before all of you wigged out moms out there stop having your kids' tonsils removed because you're convinced it's an inherently dangerous surgery because of what happened to Jahi McMath, let's review her case:
First, at only 13, she was already morbidly obese to the point that she had already had two throat surgeries to open her breathing passages. This girl slept with a continuous positive airway pressure "cpap" machine to keep her ventilated.
The surgeries were in the immediate vicinity of her tonsils and there was lots of scar tissue in the area. Her problems, which were described to her family when they signed the risk waiver, included uncontrollable bleeding due to the scar tissue and obesity.....and sadly that's what happened. The hospital or surgeons are not liable for her demise, sad though it may be.
Which brings us to the condition of "brain death". Every cell in the body contains organelles called lysosomes. They are responsible for killing the cell when it is sick or damaged so that the rest of the body doesn't get affected. When the brain ceases to be electrically active, as Jahi's did, within a few hours the lysosomes start destroying the brains cells and the brain quickly turns to a liquidy pudding-like gel. It is 100% unrecoverable. Any "functions" her family observed were brain-stem in origin or simply reflexive, not cognitive responses to stimuli. How her family failed to understand this is weird, they can't be that dumb.
They should have said their goodbye's and let her go. I'm sure the lawyers are circling the family to compete for the right to cash in by suing the hospital and its insurers. They know that nothing appeals to a jury of twelve dumb people like a dead 13 year old minority girl dying in the care of a deep-pocketed corporation.
Her tonsillectomy would probably have been routine had it not been for the complicating factors associated with her obesity......that's her family's fault.
1 comment:
Well said Ed. Harsh reality but someone has to speak up.
Post a Comment