More hearings set to determine whether Las Vegas woman is brain dead

RENO — The fate of a 20-year-old Las Vegas woman who has been declared by some hospital officials to be brain dead will remain in limbo for at least several more weeks after a brief hearing on the status of her case conducted Wednesday in Washoe District Court.

Aden Hailu is on life support at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center while the question of whether she is legally brain dead is resolved.

District Judge Frances Doherty set the next hearing in the case for Dec. 29, with a subsequent and potentially final hearing Jan. 22.

Hailu, a Las Vegas resident who attended the University of Nevada, Reno, sought treatment for abdominal pain in April and suffered catastrophic lack of oxygen and brain damage during an exploratory surgery. She remains alive with the assistance of a ventilator and feeding tube.

Doherty gave both Saint Mary's and Hailu's father, Fanuel Gebreyes, represented by Reno attorney David O'Mara, until Dec. 11 to submit briefs on what issues need to be addressed at the next hearing to help generate a final resolution to the tragic case.

The state Supreme Court ruled in November that the standards used by the hospital to make a determination of brain death might not satisfy state law. Hailu was declared brain dead at the hospital May 28 after doctors concluded that she was unresponsive, lacked brain activity as determined by reflexes and eye movement, and could not breathe on her own.

Attorney William Peterson, representing Saint Mary's, had asked Doherty to hold a hearing as early as Thursday to allow testimony on what tests are needed to make a determination on brain death.

O'Mara and Hailu's father and guardian opposed allowing the tests, including electroencephalograms, or EEGs, tests that would trace the electric impulses of the brain.

O'Mara said Saint Mary's wants to expedite the review of Hailu's condition so "they can kill her as fast as they can so they don't have to pay."

O'Mara said Hailu's father wants to find a facility that would care for his daughter.

Doherty admonished attorneys for both sides to use medical terminology in the proceedings and not resort to emotional comments.

Gebreyes declined to comment after the hearing.

O'Mara said Gebreyes wants the declaration of death overturned.

"She is alive and she is fighting for her life," he said. "She has the possibility of retaining and having a lifestyle as long as she receives treatment."

O'Mara said he was pleased with the time Doherty allowed for the case. Saint Mary's wants to rush the case without having all the facts presented, he said.

Supreme Court justices sent Hailu's case back to Washoe District Court to determine whether the American Academy of Neurology guidelines used to declare her brain dead are acceptable under the Uniform Determination of Death Act, adopted by Nevada in 1985. The law requires a determination of "irreversible cessation" of "all functions of the person's entire brain," including the brain stem.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801