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Brain Death vs. Cardiac Death

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Brain death vs. Cardiac death Hannah Hastings
March 11, 2014
ME1415X
Medical Law & Ethics and Records Management
Stacy Smith
Ultimate Medical Academy Online

Brain death is not as final as cardiac death; what “brain dead” means is a person whose brain no longer works is brain dead. The term is used so frequently and in so many different contexts that we should not be surprised that two thirds of people incorrectly believe that someone who is brain dead is not legally dead, and more than half believe that a comatose patient is brain dead Brain death is the irreversible end of brain activity (including involuntary activity necessary to sustain life) due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state. Brain death is used as an indicator of legal death in many jurisdictions, but it is defined inconsistently. Various parts of the brain may keep living when others die, and the term "brain death" has been used to refer to various combinations. For example, although a major medical dictionary says that "brain death" is synonymous with "cerebral death" (death of the cerebrum), the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) system defines brain death as including the brainstem. The distinctions can be important because, for example, in someone with a dead cerebrum but a living brainstem, the heartbeat and ventilation can continue unaided, whereas in whole-brain death (which includes brain stem death), only life support equipment would keep those functions going. Patients classified as brain-dead can have their organs surgically removed for organ donation. There is only one kind of death, when one is dead, one is dead, but death can be determined in the two different ways described in the law. A brain dead individual who is warm and pink with

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