Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family has no plans to take her off life support for now, a family source reportedly told ET Wednesday.
According to the source, Bobbi Kristina’s family met yesterday to decide whether to keep the daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown on life support and in a medically-induced coma.
ET reports that the final decision is legally up to Bobby Brown and the source said he is the most upbeat that they’ve heard him sound since the ordeal began, but gave no indication that he’s even considering taking his 21-year-old daughter off life support.
Bobbi Kristina Brown was discovered unresponsive in her bathtub on Jan. 31, and was rushed to a hospital in Rosewell, Georgia.
While the family seemingly refuses to give up, Dr. Julian Bragg, a neurologist at Midtown Neurology in Atlanta, who is not one of Bobbi Kristina’s doctors, told ET that patients in her condition may have significant brain damage.
Report: Bobbi Kristina Brown's family meets to discuss taking her off life support. http://t.co/Cm1C2qpayf pic.twitter.com/mibYTwNX7Z
— EntertainmentTonight (@etnow) February 18, 2015
“Normally patients like this have significant injury to the brain stem, which controls very basic functions such as breathing,” Dr. Bragg said.
He also said that assuming the brain stem is still functional, it is possible for a patient to “live indefinitely off the ventilator as long as continued nutrition is supplied.”
Bobbi Kristina Brown's family has no plans as of now to take her off life support http://t.co/poQ83pNXfD pic.twitter.com/NByVE6VmST
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 19, 2015
The long-term affects of being on a ventilator are extensive, said Bragg.
“After spending more than two weeks in a medically induced coma, or for any cause, the body goes through a number of changes,” he said. “There is a significant decrease in muscle strength both in terms of moving the limbs and in terms of breathing. Often people require extensive strengthening not only in being able to sit, stand and move around, but even simpler things like swallowing and breathing.”