The Girl Who Died Twice

When a 13 year-old girl from Oakland named Jahi McMath was pronounced brain dead after a surgical complication in 2013, California issued her a death certificate. Five years later, she received a second death certificate in New Jersey. How could one person die twice? In this episode, we learn that the line between life and death isn’t always as clear as you might think. 

Show notes:

This episode features interviews with:

Yolonda Wilson, Associate Professor at the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University

Jeffrey Kahn, Andreas C. Dracopolous Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

Bob Truog, who is the Frances Glessner Lee Distinguished Professor of Medical Ethics, Anaesthesia, and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.

This episode references a New Yorker article about Jahi’s case, which you can read here. It also references the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), which you can read here. 

To learn more about the ethics issues raised in this episode visit the Berman Institute’s episode guide.

The Greenwall Foundation seeks to make bioethics integral to decisions in healthcare, policy and research. Learn more at greenwall.org.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.