South Jersey mom continues to fight for her son after doctors declare him brain dead

SOUTH JERSEY (WTXF) - In the battle between a mom and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia another witness came forward Friday saying she doesn't believe Areen who doctors declared brain dead will come back. Doctors want to pull the plug, but the 14-year old's mom is refusing to give up. She says she knows her son is alive.

READ MORE: South Jersey mom fights for her son after doctors declare him brain dead

On the fourth floor of Philadelphia City Hall life and death were being debated. It's happening behind the doors of Orphan's Court and it'll determine the fate of 14-year-old Areen Chakrabarti.

"It's very sad. I'm the mother and I have to keep fighting for my child," his mom, Rumpa Banerjee, said.

The teenager has been on life support for several weeks at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after suffering a brain injury during a fire in his family's Bordentown home.

CHOP doctors argue the boy with autism is brain dead and should be removed from life support, but his mom wants her child to remain on the life-sustaining equipment.

"You might say he's medically dead but not legally dead," expert Thaddeus Pope with Mitchell Hamline School of Law said.

Called to the stand by the mother's attorney was an expert on end-of-life law. He claims CHOP's testing on the teenager is flawed.

"For brain death all function of the entire brain must have ceased. The test they're administering aren't that demanding," Pope said.

The boy's mother wants her child moved to a New Jersey hospital where a doctor's ability to declare death is limited, but a facility willing to accept him has not been found.

The mother, who has been at her son's bedside, says he knows she is with him.

"I'm never going to give up. I know he will not fail me. I know he's going to come back. He's going to prove everybody wrong. I know it's going to happen," Banerjee said.

Anyone wishing to help is welcome to visit the SaveAreen GoFundMe page, here.