Family watches online as Iranian woman dies in US

Family watches online as Iranian woman dies in US

A nurse in a Michigan hospital kissed the patient's forehead. More than 6,000 miles away, Sanaz Nezami's family in Iran watched the simple act over a laptop computer and wept.

Nezami, a vibrant 27-year-old woman who could speak three languages, wanted to pursue an advanced degree in engineering at Michigan Technological University. Instead, she was brain dead just a few weeks after unpacking her bags in a remote area of the United States, a victim of a fatal beating by her new husband, according to police.

Nezami's time in Michigan's Upper Peninsula can be marked in days. Her impact, however, will last much longer. Technology allowed family in Iran to watch her final hours and build an emotional bond with nurses whose compassion for a stranger from an unfamiliar culture gave great comfort to shocked, grieving relatives a world away.

The family's faith in the staff led to consent for an extraordinary donation: Nezami's heart, lungs and other life-saving organs were transplanted to seven people in the U.S., a remarkable gift that occurs in less than 1 percent of all cases.

"We wanted God to perform a miracle and bring Sanaz back to life," her sister, Sara Nezami, said in a phone interview from Tehran. "But this is a miracle. Sanaz gave her life in order to give life."

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The manner in which this scenario played out took me by surprise simply because anytime the US and Iran are involved in a news article it usually involves vitriolic rhetoric.

The extent this Hospital went to for their patient is pretty extraordinary. To start out they had no idea of where she came from. A nurse began to google search the patients name and was able to locate and make contact with the family in Iran.

Due to injuries and the little time the patient had left, the family in Iran would not be able to make it to the US in time (red tape for Visa's etc). The Hospital took the unique step of setting up a live video chat with the family in Iran so they could see their child and speak with medical staff. In essence, the Hospital staff became extended family and did what the fmialy members would have done if they were present - words of encouragement, stroking her hair, kissed her on the forehead, etc.

The family, half a world away, who just lost their daughter, made a life altering decision. When their daughter died they allowed the hospital to use her organs.

That donation led to 7 people receiving transplants - heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and small intestine.

Why?

"The family was very clear. They want Americans to know Sanaz loved America," said Wendy Mardak of UW-Organ and Tissue Donation in Madison, Wis., a regional organ donation agency.

The compassion did not stop with the medical staff -

Nezami was buried Dec. 18 in Marquette's Park Cemetery. As a light snow fell, the hospital's chaplain, the Rev. Leon Jarvis, read Muslim prayers over the casket while about 20 people, mostly nurses and others who cared for her, watched.

Jarvis, an Episcopal priest, said he pledged to Nezami's father that "as long as I draw breath and live in this city, your daughter will never be alone."

Sometimes we need to be reminded of just how similar we all are, regardless of nationality or religious background.

Anyways, while the story is sad, I found it inspiring and thought I would share it.

reply to post by Xcathdra


That is damned beautiful. I hope the person responsible for this young ladies death has been bought to book though. As heart rending as this news story is, and as wonderful as the bonds which have formed between the nursing staff and the Iranian family involved are, I think we can all agree that it would have been better had the young lady never required the attention of the medical profession in the first place.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Thank you for this lovely post. Such a terrible story, but such a good reminder that there are good people in this world still.

As soon as we all remember that we are all brothers and sisters - whatever the colour of our skin might be, or which language we speak, or where we come from - that is when we can start thinking about peace.

Thank you.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Sad and heartfelt story. What a terrible ending for a young woman starting out in life. I hope her husband pays for his acts and does nto escape justice. I have always believed in man's ultimate goodness and the glow we feel inside if we can genuinely help someone without any benefit to ourselves whatsoever.

Its well time the political battles with Iran were settled amicably and cooperatively. My son works with an Iranian lady and she is delightful and has settled here so well I would never have guessed she came from Iran. Its pre-conceived ideas put in our heads by the media and its controlling factions that spit the poison between different peoples. We are all the same in so many ways that the odd differences can be overcome when diplomacy and kindness is employed and not vitriolic propaganda.

Moral of the story?

Do not marry... well, fill in the blanks

It's sad and terrible such a promising young lady lost her life due to senseless violence.

However turning tragedy into hope for others is what her family did so I wish to say thanks to them for their generosity.
That was a very kind thing to do that the hospital staff did contacting family members. I could only hope that all hospital staff everywhere were that friendly. Thanks for sharing the story. I would have never heard about it otherwise.

gardener
Moral of the story?

Do not marry... well, fill in the blanks

Sorry, could you please fill in the blanks, I don't get where you are going.

Thanks

reply to post by Xcathdra

Sometimes we need to be reminded of just how similar we all are, regardless of nationality or religious background.

The Humanity in me shares this thinking, and wholeheartedly welcome and appreciate the compassion shown by the nurses and staff at the hospital.

The continuous cynic in me though, wonders if they would have gone to such lengths if the unfortunate Woman hadn't been an ideal tissue match for those 7 people waiting for transplants..

But hey, let's go with the former.

nothingwrong

gardener
Moral of the story?

Do not marry... well, fill in the blanks

Sorry, could you please fill in the blanks, I don't get where you are going.

Thanks

He's (or she's) saying don't get involved with American Men...i think.

MysterX

The Humanity in me shares this thinking, and wholeheartedly welcome and appreciate the compassion shown by the nurses and staff at the hospital.

The continuous cynic in me though, wonders if they would have gone to such lengths if the unfortunate Woman hadn't been an ideal tissue match for those 7 people waiting for transplants..

But hey, let's go with the former.

I can tell you from experience that no one goes to the trouble or expense of inputing a patients blood type or other information into the national organ donation center until the patient is dead and there is already signed consent for organ donation.

reply to post by MysterX


Was it actually an American husband ? And if he was, was he a Muslim ?

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


No idea, he could have been Chinese atheist for all i know.

Just clarifying a point that was nearly being made by someone else, if you see what i mean...i personally find it completey acceptable to marry whoever people like, as long as they don't beat their spouse to death as soon as the ring goes on.

Sinter Klaas
reply to post by MysterX

 

Was it actually an American husband ? And if he was, was he a Muslim ?

The suspect / husband was born and raised in California. They met online and were married in Turkey.

Nezami's arrival in Michigan was part of a personal odyssey that took her from Iran to Turkey to the U.S. in just months. In August, she married Nima Nassiri in Turkey and lived with him temporarily in the Los Angeles area, where he was born and raised. Her sister said the two met over the Internet.

I don't see anything more about the husband in terms of religion so I am not going to speculate. Needless to say he is charged with 2nd degree murder.

reply to post by whitewave


I'd like to think you're right on that whitewave, i really would, but the cynic in me can almost see the doctors concluding that this Woman is probably not going to make it and all they were really doing is making her last hours as comfortable as possible...and keeping her organs fresh...i'm sorry, but usually even before the last breath has rattled, someone is approaching the family to ask for the organs....that's the way it is unfortunately.

Tissue typing is a simple blood test.

If it wasn't an easy thing to match an organ with someone waiting for one on the register, doctors wouldn't be trying to get permission to removes them asap after someone dies in an accident or whatever would they?

As i say, i would like to think this was all nice and fluffy and rainbows...but people are people and usually have an ulterior motive.

reply to post by Xcathdra

I don't see anything more about the husband in terms of religion so I am not going to speculate. Needless to say he is charged with 2nd degree murder.

So he's ruined two lives, but helped another seven.

It's a weird, screwed up world.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Maybe she is the reason for the fatwa. I was wondering about the suddenness of that.

This is a very sad story. But I am glad you posted it. It shows that we can come together as human beings.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Apparently you don't know the statistics for domestic violence in the United States. Nearly one out of every 4 women in the United States have been a victim of domestic violence either from a spouse, boyfriend or other intimate relationship.

Domestic violence is simply a problem.

The ten states with the highest rate of females murdered by males were, as of 2010, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, Arizona, Georgia. In 2009, for homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 93% of female victims were murdered by a male they knew, 63% of them in the context of an intimate relationship. en.wikipedia.org...

Domestic violence is about control and power. www.ovw.usdoj.gov... It spans every type of background, age, ethnicity and sexual orientation in this country.

As all of us know too well, domestic violence inflicts severe harm on our society. So many women, men and children in our country – of every background, ethnicity, age, disability and sexual orientation – are damaged by this devastating crime. According to the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 1 in 3 women in the United States will experience rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner at some time in their lives. www.justice.gov...

reply to post by Xcathdra


Poor gal, my heart goes out to the family. Hope the S.O.B. who did this rots in prison.

Sinter Klaas
reply to post by MysterX

 

Was it actually an American husband ? And if he was, was he a Muslim ?

He was A muslim man of ME decent. He was arrested at the airport trying to board a flight to Kuwait I think.

The fact he was muslim I think doesnt hold much relevance in this story though, dont think it was any type of "honor killing"

reply to post by MysterX


Doctors are notoriously bad about asking families for organs from the dying/dead and it almost always falls to the nurses. We have certain criteria for calling the Organ Donation group, have to answer a pile of questions verifying all the criteria is met (not over age 75, no drug use, no infections at time of death, etc.). Usually the doctors don't even know if all these criteria have been met and are not the ones to decide if a person is eligible to be a donor. That's why we call the organ donation group. It's their decision as to whether a person can be a donor candidate or not. It's all left in the hands of the nurses until the organs actually make it into a surgical suite. If you knew anything about how unbelievably busy nurses are, you'd know that we don't have time to pee much less research crap in people's charts to see if they have any goodies we can make money off of.
The nurses in this story went above and beyond the call of duty to locate the family out of country, get the equipment in the patients room (which also requires getting biomed to do an inspection to see if the equipment CAN be used in the patient room), tons of phone calls, waiting for people to do their job before she could do hers and so on. She is definitely to be commended for her valiant efforts as I can guarantee you, most nurses simply wouldn't have had the time to do what she did for her patient. I do have to wonder what kind of care her other patients got if she was so busy attending to just this one but it doesn't detract from what she did.
I'm glad the family was able to have some closure and come to peace with the woman's death and that the killer was caught. In Kuwait, he could probably brag about it but here, he'll have to pay the consequences.