Medically, what is considerd "end of life"?

Question

Is it the abscence of cortical activity? or is another measure used.

I'm writing a law paper about end of life issues, and I'm trying to get a feel for what is considered 'death'.

Answer 1

More recently "end of life"has been redefined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions and "irreversible cessation of electrical activity in the whole brain" as opposed to just in the NEO-CORTEX in the previous definition.

Answer 2

There can be different medical ways to look at death. There can be Clinical death where a person is past the point of resusitation
Or Brain death which can be determined by an EEG and is important for organ transplantation

This is a good page to look at for an explanation

Answer 3

Technically when a person's heart stops pumping blood, he is considered dead. But since they can be brought back even after their heart has stopped pumping blood (such as CPR), they aren't completely dead because the cells of the heart isn't dead. However, if a sufficient amount of muscle cell of the heart dies(by not getting enough oxygen), the heart is beyond repair thus is dead beyond repair.

Answer 4

Since your looking for the "Legal" definition, try this paper by the Medical Society?

Answer 5

actually the end of life is when a person is near death--
his/her vital organs are beginning to shut down--

Answer 6

lack of brainwaves and/or the inability to restart a patient's heart are considered "end of life"

Answer 7

Ask the doctor who performs partial birth abortions. I'll bet he/she has a good feel about when life ends