2nd opinion ordered for Calif. teen declared brain dead

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — With a family fighting a hospital to keep their brain-dead daughter on life support just days before Christmas, a California judge on today ordered a second medical evaluation for 13-year-old Jahi McMath.

Jahi experienced complications after a tonsillectomy at Children's Hospital in Oakland.

As her family sat stone-faced in the front row of the courtroom, an Alameda County judge called for Jahi to be independently examined by Paul Graham Fisher, the chief of child neurology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Hospital staff and Fisher will conduct an electroencephalogram, or EEG, and tests to see if blood is still flowing to Jahi's brain.

Doctors at Children's Hospital concluded the girl was brain dead Dec. 12 and wanted to remove her from life support.

Jahi's family wants to keep her hooked up to a respirator, and eventually have her moved to another facility.

The family said they believe she is still alive, and that the hospital should not remove her from the ventilator without their permission.