Expert: No evidence of life in brain-dead girl

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif.

A court-appointed expert has told a California judge he sees no evidence that a 13-year-old girl is alive 10 months after a coroner signed her death certificate.

The opinion was provided Monday in the case of Jahi McMath by Stanford University pediatric neurologist Paul Fisher.

Jahi was declared brain dead Dec. 12 after she went into cardiac arrest after surgery to treat sleep apnea.

Her family wants Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo to issue what would be an unprecedented order declaring her to be alive after being declared brain dead.

A hearing had been scheduled for today, but it has been postponed as the attorney representing McMath’s mother seeks time to respond to Fisher’s finding.

“There wasn’t time to react to this letter,” attorney Chris Dolan said Wednesday night. “Given the fact that we were up against the time crunch. ... I thought that we were going to be in essence sandbagged.”