Jahi McMath: Mom can remove brain

Posted: 01/03/2014 11:14:18 AM PST

Updated: 01/03/2014 11:25:54 AM PST

OAKLAND -- More than three weeks after Jahi McMath was declared brain-dead by doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland, her mother will be allowed to take her 13-year-old daughter home from the facility as long as she assumes full responsibility for her health, according to an agreement between both sides announced Friday morning in Alameda County Superior Court.

The hospital will allow a transfer team to enter the facility and take Jahi out and her entire health responsibility would then be transferred to Latasha Winkfield, according to the agreement. The judge denied forcing the hospital to insert a breathing and feeding tube into Jahi, which is required by all facilities willing to accept Jahi.

The family is expected to take the matter to federal court in Oakland after they leave the lower court this morning, and a federal magistrate is expected to also weigh in.

The girl has been on a ventilator since she was declared brain-dead after serious complications resulting from tonsil surgery and two other procedures to remove throat and nasal tissue to treat sleep apnea on Dec. 9.

Jahi's family has been fighting for a court to order the hospital to insert feeding and breathing tubes so Jahi could be transferred to a care facility, possibly in New York. The family has been trying to find an outside doctor willing to perform the procedures, as Children's Hospital Oakland says it will not operate on a 'dead body.'

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Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.