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CNN Saturday Morning News
Jesica Santillan Undergoing Test to Determine if She is Brain- dead
Aired February 22, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: As we told you earlier, 17-year-old transplant patient Jesica Santillan is undergoing tests at this hour to determine if she is brain-dead.
With more on that, latest developments, we are joined by our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, who is live at Duke University Medical Center.
Elizabeth, what's the latest?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, it's sad news here from Durham today. Duke University has told CNN that an EEG yesterday showed that Jesica Santillan has no brain activity, and a brain flow -- a blood flow scan showed that she has no blood flowing to her brain. Duke has said that she has not actually been declared brain dead.
The way this usually works is that when you get test results like that, you wait for a period of time, and then you do them again to confirm them. Late last night, Jesica's mother, Masigliena (ph) Santillan, spoke to reporters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaks in Spanish)
AMERICA SANTILLAN, JESICA'S NIECE: She -- OK, she said yesterday they had already told them a little bit about some inflammation, a small amount of inflammation, and that they had said that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- they were going to do some CTs and some procedures today, which they did, and that if she was already brain-dead, that, you know, she -- it was up to her to take her off of, you know, life support, you know.
And then today they changed everything. They had a meeting of the doctors and said that it was -- you know, after tomorrow, when they do have, you know, confirmation, I guess when they have it on record, that it would be up to them to disconnect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Want to clarify a little bit about what Jesica Santillan's mother was discussing. If they find that she is indeed brain-dead, the -- who makes the decision about whether or not to take her off the respirator? I was speaking to a leading legal authority in this area, and he says it is clearly the doctor in the hospital's decision, and what happens is, is, that when you're brain-dead, you are also legally dead. And so he -- the decision is then made to take someone off of the respirator, Jonathan.
KARL: OK, Elizabeth, just to clarify, you said there is no blood flowing through her brain, there is no brain activity, but they have not declared her brain-dead. What is the distinction here?
COHEN: Well, the distinction is that you don't just let one set of tests decide that someone is brain-dead, you need to wait a period of time. In this case, they did the tests yesterday. We've been told by the family they are going to be doing tests again this morning and this afternoon, and that that would confirm it. You don't just rely on one set of tests. You want to wait a period of time and do the tests again.
KARL: OK, Elizabeth, a sad development in a very sad story. We will talk to you again soon, you'll keep us up to date. Thank you.
COHEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Brain-dead>
Aired February 22, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: As we told you earlier, 17-year-old transplant patient Jesica Santillan is undergoing tests at this hour to determine if she is brain-dead.
With more on that, latest developments, we are joined by our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, who is live at Duke University Medical Center.
Elizabeth, what's the latest?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, it's sad news here from Durham today. Duke University has told CNN that an EEG yesterday showed that Jesica Santillan has no brain activity, and a brain flow -- a blood flow scan showed that she has no blood flowing to her brain. Duke has said that she has not actually been declared brain dead.
The way this usually works is that when you get test results like that, you wait for a period of time, and then you do them again to confirm them. Late last night, Jesica's mother, Masigliena (ph) Santillan, spoke to reporters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaks in Spanish)
AMERICA SANTILLAN, JESICA'S NIECE: She -- OK, she said yesterday they had already told them a little bit about some inflammation, a small amount of inflammation, and that they had said that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- they were going to do some CTs and some procedures today, which they did, and that if she was already brain-dead, that, you know, she -- it was up to her to take her off of, you know, life support, you know.
And then today they changed everything. They had a meeting of the doctors and said that it was -- you know, after tomorrow, when they do have, you know, confirmation, I guess when they have it on record, that it would be up to them to disconnect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Want to clarify a little bit about what Jesica Santillan's mother was discussing. If they find that she is indeed brain-dead, the -- who makes the decision about whether or not to take her off the respirator? I was speaking to a leading legal authority in this area, and he says it is clearly the doctor in the hospital's decision, and what happens is, is, that when you're brain-dead, you are also legally dead. And so he -- the decision is then made to take someone off of the respirator, Jonathan.
KARL: OK, Elizabeth, just to clarify, you said there is no blood flowing through her brain, there is no brain activity, but they have not declared her brain-dead. What is the distinction here?
COHEN: Well, the distinction is that you don't just let one set of tests decide that someone is brain-dead, you need to wait a period of time. In this case, they did the tests yesterday. We've been told by the family they are going to be doing tests again this morning and this afternoon, and that that would confirm it. You don't just rely on one set of tests. You want to wait a period of time and do the tests again.
KARL: OK, Elizabeth, a sad development in a very sad story. We will talk to you again soon, you'll keep us up to date. Thank you.
COHEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Brain-dead>
