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Despite her family’s pleas, the hospital housing a young girl declared brain-dead after a routine tonsil surgery is threatening to take her off of life support.

A judge has ruled that Children’s Hospital Oakland can remove 13-year-old Jahi McMath from life support at 5 pm Monday — unless the family appeals.

In the meantime, Jahi’s family is hoping to be accepted to either a New York or California care facility that will look after the girl after the hospital rejects her.

Chris Dolan, the family’s attorney, said he was waiting to hear from the New York hospital after its facility director and medical director speak. He wouldn’t provide the hospital’s name, saying the media attention could hurt Jahi’s chance of being transferred there.

“The family is together, and today everybody is praying and being together,” Dolan told The Associated Press Sunday. He said no decisions had been made about legal options for Monday, and would not comment on progress with the New York facility.

The hospital, however, isn’t on the same page. Because Jahi is only able to “survive” on life support, the hospital does not believe she should be transferred. In fact, they said they would need to confirm there is “lawful transportation” included in any plan to transfer Jahi, and written permission from the coroner.

“This is not transferring an individual in a vegetative state, but a dead body,” Cynthia Chiarappa, a hospital spokeswoman, said Sunday.

The transfer will be made more difficult because of the two medical procedures she has to undergo — the insertion of a breathing tube and a feeding tube, both of which would be necessary for her long-term care but which a nursing home is not equipped to perform.

And because Jahi is considered a “dead body” to the hospital, they have refused to perform the procedures.

“Children’s Hospital Oakland does not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice,” David Durand, its chief of pediatrics, said in a statement Thursday.

Still, Jahi’s family believes she is still alive.

We pray for the McMath family at this time and hope they find resolve in their dire situation today.

SOURCE: Daily Mail | PHOTO CREDIT: Family Handout