Family says it has found nursing home for brain-dead girl

Martin Winkfield, stepfather of Jahi McMath, reacts to testimony at a hearing in Alameda County Superior Court to determine the condition of the 13-year-old in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. At right is Jahi's grandmother Sandra Chatman. McMath was determined to be clinically brain dead following complications from a routine tonsillectomy at Children's Hospital in Oakland. Dr. Paul Fisher, chief of pediatric neurology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, concluded that Jahi meets all the criteria of brain death. less Martin Winkfield, stepfather of Jahi McMath, reacts to testimony at a hearing in Alameda County Superior Court to determine the condition of the 13-year-old in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. At ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Family says it has found nursing home for brain-dead girl 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

The family of a 13-year-old girl who has been declared brain-dead has found a nursing home that will keep her on a breathing machine while relatives pray for a miracle, the family's lawyer said Thursday.

However, Children's Hospital Oakland, where Jahi McMath underwent tonsil-removal surgery Dec. 9 and then suffered cardiac arrest, objected to the transfer and said it was not authorized by the judge who ordered the girl kept on a ventilator.

After hospital physicians' finding of brain death was confirmed by a court-appointed doctor, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo ruled Tuesday that the girl was legally deceased and that the hospital could discontinue medical care. But he extended until next Monday a restraining order requiring connection of the breathing apparatus.

Jahi's family contends she is still alive and spent Christmas at her bedside. Their lawyer, Christopher Dolan, said Thursday that a nursing home has agreed to take her, and he is negotiating with Children's Hospital and insurance companies to insert breathing and feeding tubes that would allow her to be moved. He declined to identify the nursing home.

In a statement later Thursday, the hospital said Grillo had ordered hospital officials to maintain the status quo and had not authorized a transfer or the "multiple surgical procedures" that a move would require.

The hospital said it "does not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice."

Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Jones contributed to this report.