Southern California Facility No Longer an Option for Jahi McMath

The family of a California girl declared brain dead after complications from tonsil surgery was running out of time Sunday to find a new facility to take her in and keep her on a ventilator. 

A judge's ruling will allow Children's Hospital Oakland to remove 13-year-old Jahi McMath from life support at 5 p.m. Monday unless her family appeals.

The family is now pinning its hopes on a New York facility after two California care homes withdrew offers to accept the teen.

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Jahi's uncle, Omari Sealey, put out on Instagram on Sunday that "we are going to fight until the very last second."

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.

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL RESPONDS IN OPEN LETTER

On Sunday, the hospital said it had not heard from the New York, or any other, facility about a transfer.

"We need to be able to talk to the other facility to understand what it is they are capable of doing,'' Cynthia Chiarappa, a hospital spokeswoman, said Sunday.

"This is not transferring an individual in a vegetative state, but a dead body.''

Dolan did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Sunday, but said previously that the family views the New York site as it's "last, last hope.''

Jahi underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily from her mouth and went into cardiac arrest.

Doctors at Children's Hospital and an independent pediatric neurologist from Stanford University have concluded the girl is brain dead.

The hospital wants to remove her from life support, but the family said they believe she is still alive.

Another hospital spokesman, Sam Singer, told NBC Bay Area on Sunday that "no amount of hope or prayer can bring her back.  Everyone in this hospital, in the community, her family and her friends are grieivng because this is irreversible and a very sad situation."

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