Titus Jermaine Cromer Jr., 16, of Lathrup Village died Friday — four days after he was transferred to a Livingston County rehabilitation center.

A student at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Titus was at the center of a months-long court fight over who gets to decide when a person is brain-dead, and when a hospital can remove someone from life support.

"We are heartbroken to confirm that Titus Cromer passed away peacefully early Friday morning," said his family's attorney, James Rasor. "Our thoughts are with his family and the University of Detroit Jesuit community as they mourn his passing and celebrate his life.

"We are confident that Titus's story will leave a lasting impact on families as they make difficult decisions for their loved ones."

The legal fight began Oct. 17, after Titus was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak for emergency treatment following an undisclosed brain injury.

Doctors at Beaumont performed tests Oct. 24 that showed that Titus had no brain activity, even in the brain stem, and he met the definition of brain death under the law. The hospital planned to remove him from life support, saying he would never recover.

His mother, LaShauna Lowry, insisted Titus was not brain-dead.

More:Understanding brain death vs. states of consciousness

More:Beaumont says Titus Cromer, 16, is brain dead. A judge says it can't pull the plug yet.

Titus, she said, could regulate his own blood pressure, body temperature and could breathe without the ventilator for short periods of time. Doctors she consulted outside Beaumont suggested those were functions that require some brain activity.

Michigan's Determination of Death Act allows a doctor or nurse to declare a person is dead if either one of the following is true:

A person has irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory function.

A person has an irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.

Lowry sought a court order to keep the hospital system from removing life support from Titus. Lowry wanted to have Titus transferred to a long-term care facility that would try to rehabilitate him.

In December, a settlement was reached, and Titus underwent surgery for a tracheostomy, which is a tube inserted through the throat to make it easier to continue on ventilator support. He also had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tube, also known as a PEG tube, surgically placed through his abdomen and into his stomach.

He needed to have both the tracheostomy and the PEG tube to be transferred to a rehabilitation center. Titus struggled a little after the surgery, Rasor said, which delayed his transfer.

But once his vital signs were stable again, the transfer was arranged, and Titus was moved by ambulance to the rehab center, where he began physical and occupational therapy.

Lowry said Titus seemed to improve at the rehab center. He showed reflexes in both of his lower legs that hadn't been there in the weeks before. She took it as a sign that her son was starting to recover.

"It's a huge sign," Lowry said in a Wednesday interview with the Free Press. "My focus is just on my son healing, and him getting an opportunity to heal, so this is definitely an indication of that.

The ultimate hope, Lowry said, was that Titus would "wake up, that he continues to get the support services that he needs to heal fully."

More:A mother's prayers answered: Teen declared brain-dead to stay on life support

But that dream didn't come to fruition.

For a short time over the weekend, the University of Detroit Jesuit High School posted this statement about Titus to its Facebook page:

"The U of D Jesuit community is deeply saddened by the passing of Titus Cromer, Jr., '21, who had been hospitalized since October. Please keep the Cromer family and Titus' friends in your prayers. A school counselor will be available for students and families after tomorrow's Family Mass & Breakfast. Also, support will be available on Monday at school to help us get through this difficult time."

Rasor said that though Titus didn't survive, he's hopeful that the legal questions that arose from his case will continue to be pressed.

"We also implore health care providers — as well as other responsible parties — to act in the best interest of patients and their families and not delay when necessary lifesaving procedures and decisions are before them, especially when it involves Michigan's flawed and inadequate brain-death standard," Rasor said.

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.