Jahi McMath Has Died. Again.

The family of Jahi McMath released news that their daughter has passed away. If you don't remember who Jahi was, she was the adolescent who suffered anoxic brain death after complications from a tonsillectomy and uvulectomy for sleep apnea in 2013. She suffered her second death last week after complications from an abdominal surgery.

Multiple doctors declared the child brain dead five years ago yet the family refused to accept the diagnosis. Even though there was no blood flow to the brain, the family pointed to such findings as twitching of the fingers and toes. Most doctors would say those are spinal reflexes that has nothing to do with brain activity but they found a sympathetic judge who kept the child on a ventilator in the hospital until they found another facility in New Jersey willing to take this "patient".

This case had huge implications for the anesthesia community. For years afterwards, the ASA's CME material repeatedly emphasized the active ingredients in the metabolism of narcotics and how to be extra careful sedating obese young patients in recovery. In all the years before the McMath case, they never discussed this issue once. 

Thanks to the Jahi McMath media circus, at least there was tremendous educational opportunity for physicians. She did not die twice in vain.