Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old brain dead patient at the Children’s Hospital in Oakland has captured media attention since her case first came to light.  According to ABC Local 7, the next chapter of her story may be coming soon if time does not run out before that.  The hospital petitioned a judge for permission to remove Jahi from her ventilator.  The Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that Children’s Hospital Oakland can remove the 13-year-old from a ventilator on Tuesday at 5 p.m. if the family has not moved her before that.

Last month, Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old girl from Northern California, went in to Oakland Children’s Hospital for a routine procedure to have her tonsils removed and came out of surgery brain dead, reports the San Jose Mercury News.  After the procedure, she suddenly went into cardiac arrest and died while in the hospital recovering from the surgery, but the medical team was able to bring her back.  Jahi is now brain dead and currently on life support.

Jahi suffered from sleep apnea and, according to doctors, removing her tonsils would mitigate her issues.  Nailah Winkfield, Jahi’s mother, noticed clots sliding out of her mouth and has been collecting them for the medical team to measure.  Oakland Children’s Hospital has stated that any surgery carries risks and they are investigating what happened in this situation to result in this tragedy.

According to Time Magazine, Jahi is not expected to recover.  Her family has stated that the hospital is pushing them to take Jahi off of life support.  However, they disagree with this course of action, wanting the hospital to keep her alive.  Nailah previously stated that she will not be leaving her daughter’s side and will not allow them to pull the plug on her daughter.  Now that the judge is permitting the hospital to remove support with the family’s permission, the family states that they are closer than ever to arranging a permanent place for Jahi.  In fact, the family has even been getting support from the public, including, most recently, the Bay Area motorcycle groups.

Removing tonsils or tonsil tissue is an acceptable course of action for treating sleep apnea.  A 2011 story on NPR discussed the case of 32-year-old Daniel Sheiner, who suffered from a severe case of sleep apnea.  While being overweight or obese is the biggest risk factor, Sheiner was a healthy weight and his condition persisted.  Larger tonsils and tonsil tissue at the back of his throat were enlarged, obstructing his breathing.  However, surgery is pursued after non-invasive measures have been attempted.