Family says Jahi McMath, on life support since being declared brain-dead in 2013, has died 
 
 File - This undated file photo provided by the McMath family and Omari Sealey shows Jahi McMath. The family of a 13-year-old California girl who was declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy said Monday they will sue to keep her on life support. Family spokesman Omari Sealey, the uncle of Jahi McMath, disclosed the plan to seek a restraining order against the hospital where the girl is on a breathing machine. Under an order issued on Dec. 24 by a state judge, Jahi could be removed from a ventilator at Children's Hospital of Oakland at 5 p.m. PST. (AP Photo/Courtesy of McMath Family and Omari Sealey, File) less File - This undated file photo provided by the McMath family and Omari Sealey shows Jahi McMath. The family of a 13-year-old California girl who was declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy said Monday they ... more Photo: Uncredited, AP 
 
 FILE – The mother of Jahi McMath, Nailah Winkfield embraces her brother Omari Sealey, after they stated that the court order to remove Jahi from a ventilator has been extended in this Dec. 30, 2013 file photo. The statement was made by the family to the news media in front of Children's Hospital in Oakland. less FILE – The mother of Jahi McMath, Nailah Winkfield embraces her brother Omari Sealey, after they stated that the court order to remove Jahi from a ventilator has been extended in this Dec. 30, 2013 file ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 
 
 FILE – Marvin Winkfield places his arm around his wife Nailah Winkfield, mother of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, as they wait outside a courtroom in Oakland in this Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 file photo. FILE – Marvin Winkfield places his arm around his wife Nailah Winkfield, mother of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, as they wait outside a courtroom in Oakland in this Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 file photo. Photo: Ben Margot, Associated Press 
 
 Attorney Chris Dolan holds a news conference where he showed evidence that he says demonstrates that Jahi McMath is not brain dead in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2014. Attorney Chris Dolan holds a news conference where he showed evidence that he says demonstrates that Jahi McMath is not brain dead in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2014. Photo: Mathew Sumner / Special To The Chronicle 
 
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 Photo: Uncredited, AP Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Family says Jahi McMath, on life support since being declared brain-dead in 2013, has died 1 / 5 Back to Gallery 
 
 The teenager at the center of an impassioned debate over how to define death has died, according to her family’s lawyer. 
 
 More than four years have passed since something went wrong after 13-year-old Jahi McMath underwent throat surgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. 
 
 Jahi initially seemed fine after the procedure, then blood began gushing from her mouth and nose. Later she went into cardiac arrest and was declared brain-dead. 
 
 Refusing to accept that pronouncement, Jahi’s family kept her on life support in New Jersey, which makes exemptions for death determinations that violate religious beliefs. 
 
 A San Francisco attorney who represents the family said she died at 9 p.m. last Friday from bleeding due to liver failure and a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen. Christopher Dolan, who has worked pro bono for the family since 2013, said the state of New Jersey is issuing a death certificate with all of that information. It includes the new time and date of Jahi’s death. 
 
 This time, Dolan said, “her mom gave her permission to die. She thought Jahi was struggling.” 
 
 To him, the second death certificate proves that the original death certificate from California should be annulled. 
 
 “How do you issue a death certificate on someone who is already dead?” he asked. 
 
 Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, was at her daughter’s bedside when she died in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, according to Dolan. The family kept the news secret last week out of a desire to mourn and reflect, he added. 
 
 “This has been crushing for Nailah and Marvin,” he told The Chronicle Thursday evening, referring to Jahi’s mother and stepfather. “They’ve been living in exile in New Jersey because the state of California refused to acknowledge that Jahi was not dead. And the court case was taking years to prove that.” 
 
 Winkfield echoed those sentiments Thursday night. 
 
 “I knew Jahi wasn’t dead back in December of 2013 — I’m her mother and I know my child,” she said, in a statement sent by Dolan. 
 
 “And I was right,” Winkfield continued. “Jahi McMath was not brain dead or any other kind of dead. She was a little girl who deserved to be cared for and protected, not called ‘a dead body.’ When she finally was treated like a human being, she got better.” 
 
 Jahi stayed for years in an apartment in an undisclosed location, hooked up to a ventilator and feeding tube, with blankets to keep her warm. Family members doted on her and took videos that appeared to show her moving in response to commands. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Winkfields and other relatives filed a federal lawsuit to have her death certificate from the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau overturned — the first step toward what they said would be a wrongful injury suit against Children’s Hospital. 
 
 Winkfield excoriated the doctors at Children’s Hospital in her statements Thursday night. 
 
 “As I told the doctors at Children’s Hospital Oakland, ‘You all screwed up, you need to step back and let God have some time to heal my daughter,’” she said. “Once she was away from Children’s and in the hands of people of faith who treated her, she healed.” 
 
 Sam Singer, a crisis communications expert who advised Children’s Hospital when the controversy first blew up, said he and others are relieved to see Jahi “finally” rest in peace. 
 
 He accused Dolan of exploiting the McMath family’s emotions to gain publicity. 
 
 “Her case created a national debate over something that unfortunately people don’t understand,” Singer said. “And it’s very simple: Dead is dead. You don’t come back from it.” 
 
 Dolan deflected the exploitation charges, saying they have racial overtones. To him, Singer’s accusation implies that Winkfield, who is African American, is relying on a white lawyer to make decisions on her behalf. 
 
 He noted, further, that the legal fight over Jahi’s civil rights and humanity is not over. 
 
 “I’m still going to ask the federal court to void the California death certificate and restore her citizenship,” Dolan said. 
 
 The family has asked that Jahi’s brain be preserved so it can be studied. 
 
 Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Melinda Krigel released a brief statement Thursday night expressing condolences. 
 
 “At this time, our hearts go out to the family of Jahi McMath,” she said. 
 
 Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan 

 FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 file photo, Attorney Christopher Dolan points to a recent MRI of Jahi McMath during a news conference at his law office in San Francisco. New Jersey officials say McMath,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 file photo, Attorney Christopher Dolan points to a recent MRI of Jahi McMath during a news conference at his law office in San Francisco. New Jersey officials say McMath, the girl at the center of the medical and religious debate over brain death, has died from excessive... (Associated Press) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A girl at the center of the medical and religious debate over brain death has died after surgery in New Jersey, her mother said Thursday. 
 
 Nailah Winkfield said doctors declared her daughter Jahi McMath dead on June 22 from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to treat an intestinal issue. 
 
 McMath was declared dead in December 2013 when she was 13 after suffering irreversible brain damage during routine surgery in California to remove her tonsils and a coroner signed a death certificate. Several specialists concurred after neurological tests. 
 
 Winkfield refused to accept the conclusion. She said her Christian beliefs compelled her to fight for continued care for her daughter, who she said showed signs of life through toe wriggles and finger movements. 
 
 Winkfield flew her daughter to New Jersey, where she has remained on life support and received care in the state that accommodates religions that don't recognize brain death. 
 
 "Jahi wasn't brain dead or any kind of dead," Winkfield said. "She was a girl with a brain injury and she deserved to be cared for like any other child who had a brain injury." 
 
 McMath's case drew national attention amid the debate over brain death and religious beliefs. Conservative religious groups rallied behind Winkfield and helped raise money for McMath's continued care. 
 
 Winkfield said she has quit her job, sold her home in Oakland and used savings to pay for McMath's care in New Jersey. The state's Medicaid program and donations have also contributed to the girl's care. 
 
 "These last four-and-a-half years have not been easy," Winkfield said. "I can go to sleep knowing I did everything possible for my kid and no one can take that away from me." 
 
 Winkfield and her lawyers had been trying to rescind the California death certificate as part of a medical malpractice lawsuit filed against Children's Hospital in Oakland. 
 
 In refusing to throw out the lawsuit last year, a judge ruled that it was up to a jury to determine if the girl was still alive. 
 
 Attorney Chris Dolan said the New Jersey death certificate eliminated that argument, but he and Winkfield are still debating whether to continue the fight and possibly set a precedent so other religious families don't have to go through the same situation. 
 
 "My wish is that she will get some laws changed," Winkfield said about her daughter. "I really hope that people learn from this and learn not to pull the plug so fast." 
 
 Children's Hospital lawyers had argued that the family did not subject McMath to tests accepted by the American Medical Association to determine brain death. 
 
 Dolan says new technology has made traditional tests obsolete.
– After more than four years of insisting her daughter was still alive, Jahi McMath's mother is grieving. Nailah Winkfield says Jahi—who was declared brain dead in California after routine tonsil surgery in December 2013, when she was 13—died in New Jersey last week from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to deal with an intestinal problem. Family attorney Christopher Dolan says a death certificate was issued in New Jersey stating that Jahi had been suffering from a brain injury since the 2013 operation, CNN reports. He says he will continue his pro bono work to have Jahi's original death certificate revoked. With Jahi on life support, the family moved to New Jersey in 2014 so she could continue receiving care. Her mother said she showed occasional signs of life, including finger movements. A California judge ruled last fall that Jahi, whose family is suing the hospital for medical malpractice, might still be alive. Dolan tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the New Jersey death certificate will be proof the first one should be annulled. "How do you issue a death certificate on someone who is already dead?" he says. Winkfield, who sold her house in Oakland to help pay for Jahi's care, tells the AP that she's "devastated by the loss of her daughter who had showed tremendous strength and courage," but she's glad Jahi "forced the world to rethink the issue of brain death." "These last four-and-a-half years have not been easy," she says. "I can go to sleep knowing I did everything possible for my kid, and no one can take that away from me."