Emotions were running high in a Metro Detroit courtroom after a judge decided to stop the organ donation process involving a woman on life support.
The family of Jazmine Phillips went to court Wednesday (Feb. 21), claiming she didn’t want to be an organ donor.
The case is out of Muskegon, but it has implications for our entire state because it involves Michigan driver’s licenses.
Phillips remains on life support. She is listed on the organ donor registry, but her family says she was planning to take her name off the list. The judge sided with her family on the end-of-life decision.
Phillips’ family celebrated after a Muskegon County judge granted their request to stop Gift of Life Michigan from harvesting her organs.
“God turned a miracle today,” said a family member. “She belongs to us. Not to the state, and I am overjoyed.”
According to the family’s attorney, Phillips went to the hospital on Feb. 14, complaining of a headache.
“16 hours later, it was determined that she had too much swelling on her brain and no activity,” said attorney Michael Oakes. “This is what her desire was, to not have her organs taken from her.”
Oakes says Phillips expressed to numerous people her desire not to donate her organs. However, Gift of Life Michigan has a different view.
“On her driver’s license, which was filled out, and which was done on her own will and volition, and which was submitted to the Secretary of State, this is not a document that was submitted to Gift of Life, so we’ve got objective evidence that Ms. Phillips intended to make the gift,” said Jill Erickson.
Her family says Phillips was planning to change her donor status when her license expired in 2026.
Gift of Life Michigan said they respect the court’s decision and said their hearts are with Phillips’ family, and they express their deepest sympathies for their loss.
A girlfriend of Phillips’ relative played a crucial factor in the judge’s decision.
She testified that on the way to the hospital, Phillips said she wanted to keep her organs.
The judge cited her legal distance from Phillips, giving her statements more weight.
If you have signed up to be an organ donor, it’s essential that you communicate with your families.
You can sign up to be a donor online, by mail, or in person with the Secretary of State. And you can do the same to remove your name from the registry.
