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A family court judge in Nevada gave a green light to a Reno-based hospital to perform brain wave tests on twenty year-old Aden Hailu who is only kept alive by life-support machines after being declared brain dead since May.

Despite strong objections from the patient's family, Washoe County Judge Frances Doherty permitted St. Mary's Regional Medical Center to conduct two electroencephalograms (ECG) on the brain dead patient but reserved ruling on whether further tests such as CT scan and clinical exams shall be included.

The young patient, a student at the University of Nevada, was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain. After undergoing exploratory surgery, doctors determined that she suffered severe low blood pressure and lack of oxygen supply to the brain causing her to be in a comatose state since May this year as mentioned by ABC News.

The family accused the hospital for attempting to bring down the cost of life-support at the expense of Aden's chance of surviving from a coma hence their vehement objection to the latter's court request for ECGs.

"There is no reason to do another EEG test because they already declared her brain dead. There is a determination of death, and St. Mary's wants to pull the plug," argued David O'Mara, the lawyer for Fanuel Gebreyes, the patient's father and guardian as quoted saying by Review Journal.

The hospital, on the other hand, felt disheartened and insulted over Gebreyes and O'Mara's accusation.

"What they want is to do nothing. They want the hospital to contradict the medical opinions of our doctors, which we cannot and should not do," said William Peterson, the lawyer representing the hospital as stated in an article by Times Union.

The hearing will resume on January 22 next year in which the court will decide whether the hospital's brain dead procedures meet the state's legal requirements.