California boy injured in boating accident, at center of life support debate, dies

FRESNO, Calif. -- Jonah Panduro, who was critically injured in a boating accident on Lake Kaweah in California last week, has died, according to the family.

Panduro, 12, had been in a medically-induced coma since the accident. The family had been fighting to keep him on life support, even though the doctors had pronounced him braindead.

According to members of the family, Panduro was still on life support when he passed away.

Jonah was inner tubing on Lake Kaweah last Sunday when a metal loop snapped off the tube while he was being pulled and lodged in his head. Jonah's family says two doctors at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno declared him braindead this weekend, yet during the past week, the family says they've seen the boy cry and move his fingers.

"The medical response is like, 'Oh, his eyes are just swelling up, that's why his eyes are opening' or 'He's just building moisture in his eyes,'" Panduro's father Bruce Panduro said.

Doctors had been following California state law by taking the child off of life support Monday. The family said two doctors have to pronounce a patient braindead to move forward with the decision, and even if they wanted to, the family had said they couldn't take Jonah home because any movement would have killed him.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Jonah. If you would like to make a donation, click here.