In the United States and many other countries, a person is legally dead if he or she permanently loses all brain activity (brain death) or all breathing and circulatory functions. In Jahi's case, three doctors have concluded that she is brain-dead.
This means they will not regain consciousness or be able to breathe without support. A person who's brain dead is legally confirmed as dead. They have no chance of recovery because their body is unable to survive without artificial life support.
Electroencephalography (EEG).
An EEG measures the electrical activity inside the brain. Doctors attach small electrodes to the scalp. The brain's electrical impulses are then recorded. This test can determine if seizures may be the cause of a coma.A person who is brain dead is dead, with no chance of revival. Coma: A state of profound unresponsiveness as a result of severe illness or brain injury. Patients in a coma do not open their eyes or speak, and they do not exhibit purposeful behaviors. In general, comas last just a few days or weeks.
Defined as the "irreversible loss of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem," brain death occurs as a result of brain injury. This may occur through TBI, stroke, or the loss of blood flow or oxygen to the brain. Other tests may also be required to confirm brain death.
"Diagnosis of death has three parts: ask 'Why have they died', then diagnose death, and then wait for five minutes before confirming death." The checklist for diagnosing death includes checking for a heartbeat and breathing, and examining the eyes to check if the pupils are large and unreactive.
Does an individual feel any pain or suffer after brain death is declared? No. When someone is dead, there is no feeling of pain or suffering.
The three essential findings in brain death are coma, absence of brainstem reflexes, and apnoea. An evaluation for brain death should be considered in patients who have suffered a massive, irreversible brain injury of identifiable cause. A patient determined to be brain dead is legally and clinically dead.
Brain death is not the same as coma, because someone in a coma is unconscious but still alive. Brain death occurs when a critically ill patient dies sometime after being placed on life support. This situation can occur after, for example, a heart attack or stroke.
After turning off life support, a person who's brain-dead will die within minutes, because they won't be able to breathe on their own. If a person is in a permanent vegetative state but not brain-dead, their life support likely consists of fluids and nutrition.
Defined as the “irreversible loss of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem,” brain death occurs as a result of brain injury. Patients who are brain dead, however, are considered to have a complete loss of brain function, and there is no way to overturn this – yet.
A Definition of Irreversible Coma Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death. Sometimes these efforts have only partial success so that the result is an individual whose heart continues to beat but whose brain is irreversibly damaged.
Comas are caused by an injury to the brain. Brain injury can be due to increased pressure, bleeding, loss of oxygen, or buildup of toxins. The injury can be temporary and reversible. It also can be permanent.
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened; fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound; lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle; and does not initiate voluntary actions. It can also be defined as a score of ≤ 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) lasting ≥ 6 hours.
Clinical death is the medical term for cessation of blood circulation and breathing, the two necessary criteria to sustain human and many other organisms' lives. It occurs when the heart stops beating in a regular rhythm, a condition called cardiac arrest. The term is also sometimes used in resuscitation research.
Death is the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include aging, predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, homicide, starvation, dehydration, and accidents or major trauma resulting in terminal injury.
There are five manners of death (natural, accident, suicide, homicide, and undetermined).
Theoretically, a person with advanced organ failure could be given a new and functional body while keeping their own personality, memories, and consciousness through such a procedure. No human brain transplant has ever been conducted.
Place a stethoscope on the chest and note the lack of breathing and heart sounds. Place a finger on the carotid artery and note the lack of pulse. Look at the clock. Pronounce the patient dead at the given time.
When the breathing machine is turned off, a patient who is brain dead will not breathe. The heart will beat for some time after the brain dies as long as breathing is artificially maintained because heart function is not entirely dependant on the brain.
The heart has its own pacemaker independent of the brain. As long as it has oxygen, it continues to beat. The heart could actually be removed from the body, placed in saline solution, given oxygen, and still continue to beat. This is why although the brain is dead, the heart continues to beat.
These signs are explored below.
- Decreasing appetite. A decreased appetite may be a sign that death is near.
- Sleeping more.
- Becoming less social.
- Changing vital signs.
- Changing toilet habits.
- Weakening muscles.
- Dropping body temperature.
- Experiencing confusion.
According to the organismic definition, death is the irreversible loss of functioning of the organism as a whole (Becker 1975; Bernat, Culver, and Gert 1981). Proponents of this approach emphasize that death is a biological occurrence common to all organisms.
Since the body of a brain dead person can still have a heartbeat, can still produce urine, and can still accomplish oxygen exchange with the help of a breathing machine, those who have not dealt with brain death may conclude that at least a part of the patient is still alive and perhaps the other parts are on the mend
Since it controls vital functions such as breathing, swallowing, digestion, eye movement and heartbeat, there can be no life without it. But the rest of the brain is obviously capable of some remarkable feats, with one part able to compensate for deficiencies in another.
Time is very important when an unconscious person is not breathing. Permanent brain damage begins after only 4 minutes without oxygen, and death can occur as soon as 4 to 6 minutes later.
Imaging tests
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan. This test is usually the first performed in an emergency room for a suspected traumatic brain injury.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An MRI uses powerful radio waves and magnets to create a detailed view of the brain.
dim-witted, doltish, dopey. (also dopy), dorky.
Doctors usually advise stopping life support when there is no hope for recovery -- your organs are no longer able to function on their own. Keeping the treatment going at that point may draw out the process of dying and may also be costly. Choosing to remove life support usually means you'll die within hours or days.
Remember: hearing is thought to be the last sense to go in the dying process, so never assume the person is unable to hear you. Talk as if they can hear you, even if they appear to be unconscious or restless.
This gives us the ability to use our senses -- to see, taste, smell, hear and feel. "Brain death" means both the upper and lower part of the brain are not functioning. That command center of the body that regulates the central nervous system is unable to perform. However, some function, such as a heartbeat, may linger.
Once this process has begun, it cannot be reversed. At the time a physician declares brain death, the patient is dead. The machine is not keeping the patient alive (brain death is irreversible and is legally and medically recognized as death), it is merely keeping the organs viable until they can be recovered.
