When is the actual time of death?

Question

The person stops breathing, but then there is that final exhale. (With my Mom, it was several minutes later). Between those two points, is the heart still beating? Does death officially occur when the heart stops or when breathing stops?

Answer 1

The heart can continue to beat for a short time after breathing stops, but breathing can not occur after the heart stops; however, there may be an exhalation due to pressure in the lungs. A person is "dead" when there is no brain function, but without a heartbeat, brain death is certain.


the_only_solorose
0
is not entirely correct. In some states RNs can pronounce death (I worked in a couple of them). Also, when a person is pronounced has nothing to do with actual death. If someone dies and is not discovered for 4 days, they were still dead.

Answer 2

death officially occurs when the doctor pronounces it and not before.
unofficially, your mom could have been gone, long before all the systems in her body shut down. When we have people in ICU, they cannot be listed as dead until and unless thier brain waves cease. Unless your mom had such a monitor on her, there would be no way for you to know the exact time she left. That is why doctors pronounce, and the law goes with the time they pronounce as the official time of death.

Answer 3

The actual time of death for a person is when they are officially pronounced dead by a physician.

A physician will carefully listen and look for breathing, heart beat and brain function. If none of these are present, then the doctor will announce "time of death...2239". Time is announced in military time and is recorded as such.

EMT

PS I used "2239" because that is what time it was when I wrote this response.

Answer 4

The actual time of death is when brain function stops.

Answer 5

the heart

Answer 6

When both stop.