ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the case of Jahi McMath, a fat Black girl who underwent brain death after having a tonsillectomy. McMath’s family refused to accept neurological criteria of death and also believe that their race played a factor in how McMath was treated. Wilson uses this case as a way to examine how the long history of medical racism and racial stereotypes in the USA informed this case, specifically focusing on a lack of trust between the family and the medical professionals. Wilson thinks that bioethicists can learn much from this case, especially that this historically grounded mistrust often structures the relationships between black patients and their families and medical professionals.
