If you love someone, set them free

Anyone that has suffered a bereavement in their life knows how difficult it is to let go of the one you love. Denial and anger are part of the stages of the grieving process. But eventually one comes to terms with the death of a loved one.

I admit that I have been following the tragic case of Jahi McMath with a morbid fascination since I saw a news report on Sky just before Xmas. Jahi was a 13 year old girl in Oakland, California. On 12th December 2013, following complications after surgery, she was declared 'brain dead', I am not going to go into details about this case, Doc Bastard provides excellent information on his blog about the medical aspects, including an FAQ of what brain death really means.

I do not know if the family were offered any sort of bereavement counselling at this stage. What I do know is that an unscrupulous ambulance hearse-chasing lawyer called Christopher Dolan got involved shortly after. His firm specializes in injury claims - the sort of vultures that harass people outside supermarkets and whose tv ads harp on about 'no win no fee' claims. Hell, I've even seen ads for their services in A&E departments!

Now this is when this gets totally bizarre - the family, advised by this douchebag of a lawyer - are not suing the hospital for 'wrongful death' but rather the fact that Jahi has suffered a 'massive, life-altering brain injury'!!! In other words they are not accepting the fact that she is dead, because her heart is beating (albeit due to the fact that she is hooked up to a ventilator!). They ask that Jahi be moved - not to a funeral home but to a facility that cares for brain injured people. Even weirder is that the facility that comes forward is run by someone that used to be a hairdresser!!! The family also insist that the hospital carry out further surgical procedures so that Jahi can have a feeding tube, which the hospital rightfully refuse as she is legally dead. She hasn't got a massive life-altering brain injury, she is DEAD.

The family also set up a panhandling donation site to get the money to be able to move her to this new facility, where she can be sustained on 'life support' indefinitely. The story then explodes on  the worldwide stage. Even today, nearly a month into this tragedy, this is still making international headlines.

When I first heard the story, my heart went out to the family, as they appeared to be unable to cope with their grief. But as this macabre charade develops, their motives are now starting to become clear. This is not about having difficulty grieving for a dead child. This is not about faith and hoping for a miracle, although there are many posts doing the rounds on social media from religious fanatics who think that their God is going to make her wake up, even though the decomposition process of her body has already started - check this document (*warning - extremely graphic description of how Jahi's body is decomposing*). The rabid right wing press have also jumped on the bandwagon, using Jahi for their pro-life agenda.

No, their real motive is money, and how much Jahi's life (or death) is really worth. The maximum that can be awarded for death due to negligence under California law is apparently $250k, but hey, that's just 'chump change' when you can get an unlimited amount for a life-altering brain injury!! Uncle Omari (the beast - his words, not mine) mentions an amount of $30 million. You can hear him for yourself towards the end of this video.

Jahi's body is now in an undisclosed location, apparently a Catholic facility,after the coroner gave the family permission to remove it from hospital. According to  Dolan, she is now being 'treated' as a person and referred to as 'Jahi' instead of the body. But he admits that she is in a worse shape than they originally thought she would be - duh, she's been dead for nearly a month!!!

Now let's just put the facts aside for a minute and imagine that Jahi is not really dead (which she is) but her brain injured to such an extent that she would be in a permanent vegetative state, and would need round the clock care. She would never sing, dance, fall in love, or have any quality of life whatsoever. She would just be lying lifelessly on a bed being maintained by machines and fed through a tube. Is this really the quality of life a mother would want for her child? Or would she not rather remember her beautiful smile and treasure the happy memories?

As a mother myself, I know what any human being with an ounce of dignity would choose. A precious child is worth much more than all the money in the world. A child is not to be used and abused to further one's career and make a name for oneself (take note, Dolan!). Hell, I wouldn't even put one of my PETS through this, let alone a child!

But the family and their scumbag of a lawyer have already shown the world that they have no shame or dignity whatsoever. How this train wreck is going to end is still yet to come. But I guess that it wont be pretty. Unfortunately, the memory of this sweet little girl has already been tarnished by this gruesome insanity.

Rest in peace, Jahi McMath

Died 12 December 2013, aged 13 years