Boy Dies Before Being Taken Off Life Support

"Jonah is in a better place now and we tried and we tried", says Magali Panduro, Jonah’s aunt.

Moments after Jonah Panduro’s death, his aunt spoke with us about their journey. She says that Jonah was still reacting to his fathers voice, but that three days ago, doctors at CRMC declared him brain dead.

"It was a horrible accident, when we heard it we couldn’t believe it, when we saw him for the first time we couldn’t believe it", says Panduro.

It all started on June 28th,  Jonah was riding on the tube at the lake, when the metal latch connecting the rope he was being pulled from, broke off and hit his head. he was air lifted to Fresno.

"We’re praying and we have faith and that’s why I came today to offer some hope and prayers to Lisa", says family friend Christine Vasquez.

Family members tell us that they wanted to keep Jonah on life support, despite the grim prognosis of doctors. We spoke with several lawyers about what rights to parents have, whether or not they can keep their children on life support, if the doctors suggest to take them off.

"Clearly they are going to have more than one expert look over their EEG’s to determine if there is any activity and if there is no activity, there is nothing they can do to keep him alive", says legal analyst, attorney Charles Magill.

A year ago, attorney Chris Dolan represented Jahi McMath’s case. she was undergoing a routine surgery, when complications put her on life support. Doctors suggested she be allowed to die, but when the family hired Dolan, they were able to transfer Jahi to a long term care facility in New Jersey where she is still alive today.

"Each of the cases, Jahi’s case and this arise out of a horrible tragedy and the common factor as to who gets to make the decision of whether or not the child is alive or dead", says Dolan.

We did try reaching out to CRMC about this incident but were told that they had to respect each patients privacy. A Go-Fund-Me page has also been set up to help pay for the families unexpected expenses.