Do you consider being brain dead the criterion for death, or the cessation of the beating of the heart?

Question

How do you view the implications of considering (or not considering) brain dead as dead?

Answer 1

If my brain can't function... let me go...

Answer 2

Brain dead = dead.


Lots of people have their heart stop and then have it restarted for them. They (usually) recover with little or no adverse effects.

No one has yet recovered from zero brain activity. You can keep the body alive, in some cases where the cerebellum and brain stem are still functioning you can keep them alive indefinitely.

But if the frontal etc. lobes are gone then so is the person.


People have recovered after doctors have declared them brain dead. But that is most probably medical error rather than a miracle.


One problem is it is very easy to tell if the heart is still beating. It is a lot harder to see if there is still some activity going on in the brain or not.

The other result is that you get a lot more transplant organs in better shape. If you have to wait for the heart to stop before harvesting the organs they are going to be in a lot worse shape as they start deteriorating as soon as the blood flow ceases. If the doctors can remove them from a living body where the brain is dead then they are in much better shape and the transplant should go better.

The fear is that with the problem of detecting brain death, and the shortage of transplant organs that doctors will declare people dead when they could have recovered.

Answer 3

According to the law, "brain-dead" means dead. But this is clearly NOT the state that has been called death since time immemorial.

If you are declared brain dead, that does NOT mean your brain has ceased to function.

Before a diagnosis of brain death can be made, hypothermia must be ruled out. Since body temperature is regulated by the brain, one of the requirements for a diagnosis of brain death is a functioning brain.

At least some "brain-dead" people exhibit normal functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary complex, which regulates electrolye balance, and controls the activity of the thyroid gland via secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone.

At least some "brain-dead" people exhibit measurable activity in the brain stem in response to visual and auditory stimuli, and and least some of them exhibit activity in the cerebral cortex that can be measured via an EEG.

During the organ explantation procedure, a brain-dead cadaver will exhibit soaring heart rate and blood pressure and, if paralyzing drugs are no administered, will move around and flail it arms and legs. Just as you would if someone attacked you with a knife.

No one has demonstrated that a "brain-dead" cadaver suffers during the organ explantation procedure, but if paralyzing drugs were not administered, she would certainly seem to be suffering, and appearances are all we have to go on for those who cannot speak for themselves.

To Bob: that's a good question. The "big hurry" is bacause organs become useless to the transplant industry almost immediately after the heart stops beating. That's why the concept of "brain death" was invented -- to justify cutting out the people's organs while their hears are still beating and their brains are still (somewhat) functioning.

Answer 4

In the majority of cases, I'd go with cessation of heart beat.

Once upon a time, I would have said "Brain dead is dead". But recently I saw a documentary about a girl involved in an accident with head injuries. She was on life support (assisted breathing etc) and the doctors informed her family that she was brain dead, would never awaken and should be taken off life support in order to die with dignity.

Her family refused. She woke up. She's severely physically handicapped but her mental faculties haven't been affected.

EDIT: by cessation of heart beat I mean when the heart will not restart.

Answer 5

If being "brain dead" was the criterion, then most religious followers would have to come under that category. They'd be declared dead while they were still spouting and preaching!

Think for yourself.

When you're DEAD, nothing will happen so there is NO HURRY to determine the exact moment is there?

Answer 6

I'd say brain death is true death.

If the parts of a person's brain responsible for higher functions and thought have been damaged or destroyed, this might leave just the "reptile" brain and brain stem to enable the person to persist in the so-called "permanent vegetative state". The body lives on but who that person was is no more. That to me is death, even if the heart keeps pumping.

"Brain dead, no life livin' in my head, so I'm brain dead..." -- Unknown

Answer 7

If I'm brain dead, I'd consider that dead. Well, I wouldn't consider it, as I'd be brain dead, but you know what I mean. Whatever is there wouldn't be me any more, just a jump of flesh.

If my heart stops beating, and can't be restarted in time, I'd also be dead.

Answer 8

Seeing as how the heart is often stopped for periods of time for a variety of surgical procedures, yet the patient comes out living afterwards, I'd say brain death is the criterion.

Answer 9

People are brought back from 'death' defined as the stopping of the heart. That is obviously an insufficient definition. I don't know of too many 'brain dead' individuals who came back. Of course, this could open the door to abuses like taking 'dead' people apart before they were truly irrecoverable. Too bad we don't have a way to measure the soul, so we could know when it's 'safe' to pull the plug.

Answer 10

the heart can be started again depending of course on the condition of the heart. Once the brain is dead, you're dead--the brain is the central nervous system, and when that goes, you go.

Answer 11

100% brain death is considered the cessation of life. If your heart stops first, your brain can survive as long as a minute afterwards before it uses up all oxygen. People have even been concious while their heart stopped beating.