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The family of the Bay Area girl declared brain dead last year after surgery wants a judge to declare her “not dead,” but a PR strategist who used to work for the hospital says the family lawyer’s effort is a publicity stunt to boost a statewide proposition on next month’s ballot to let medical malpractice plaintiffs collect bigger payouts.

But today according to our sister site NewsOne she is moving

Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old California girl who was pronounced brain-dead after a routine tonsil and adenoid removal surgery to treat sleep apnea at Oakland Children’s Hospital last year, is now moving at her mother’s command and the family’s attorney is pushing to get the determination of brain death reversed.

After she awoke from the operation, her family said she started bleeding heavily from her mouth — blood clots “were sliding out” according to her mother — and she went into cardiac arrest. There was a contentious legal battle between the hospital—which referred to Jahi as “the body”—and the family, with the coroner finally issuing a death certificate releasing the hospital from providing care for the teen.

On the 3rd the following video was posted:

She appears to move her hand on command.

Chris Dolan, the lawyer for the family of Jahi McMath, who was declared brain dead after tonsil surgery last year at the age of 13, has given $25,000 to the campaign for Prop. 46, a ballot measure that would boost the cap on verdicts from medical malpractice lawsuits from $250,000 to over $1 million.

Sam Singer, the publicist who used to work as a spokesman for the hospital that treated Jahi and is now speaking out against Dolan, also has a stake in that campaign. Singer is paid as a publicist to work for the “No on 46″ campaign, aiming to keep malpractice caps at their current level.

At the time, Sam Singer, spokesman for Children’s Hospital, would not refer to Jahi by name, instead referring to her as “the dead body.” Jahi’s mother fought for her daughter because she “knew that Jahi was ‘in there’ and not brain dead.” Jahi has been at an undisclosed location for nine months where she has received medical care. Newly developed evidence, including MRI films and EEG tests show that Jahi has brain activity and is not brain dead.

“It shows she can rapidly respond to a command … it’s not a fluke,” said Dr. Philip DeFina, a neuroscientist and the chairman of the International Brain Research Foundation.

Read  the rest here.

Reviving Jahi McMath: Is She Dead Or Is She Alive?  was originally published on elev8.com