IS "BRAIN DEAD" REALLY DEAD

Is "brain dead" really dead

Abstract

Brain death in general, corresponds to the absence of integrated neurological response in the brain (brain, brainstem and cerebellum), you must exclude reversible causes such as poisoning and hypothermia. Brain death is invariably followed by cardiac arrest, which can occur in hours to days, and rarely, with a great technological effort, social, moral and economic, in months. In this paper we will discuss, technical aspects of the Brain death in general terms, and the public policy to the Brain death.

Is "brain dead" really dead

Introduction

Death is an irreversible disruption of life and proximity imminent death. Death involves a complete change in the status of a living being, the loss of their essential characteristics. This occurs when the spiritual principle which constitutes the unity of the individual can no longer perform his duties on the body and in him, whose elements, to be abandoned, dissociate them. Obviously the brain occupies a special position in relation to this (Alireza 2003). The brain is a prerequisite for consciousness, intellectual activities, voluntary movement, memory and emotions as well as for the regulation of breathing, blood pressure, temperature, digestion, etc...If all of these upper and lower functions of the brain are lost control completely and irreversibly, there is no permanence of the coordination of body functions, and because of the irreversibility, it ceases to be alive.

Body: Discussion and Analysis

Death occurs at various levels. Somatic death is referred to the body as a whole. It is usually preceded by the organs, cells, and parts thereof and is recognized by the interruption of the heartbeat, breathing, movements, reflexes and brain activity. The exact timing of somatic death is difficult to determine, because the symptoms of transient states such as coma, stupor fading and closely resemble those in the time of death. After the death somatic several changes that serve to determine the timing and circumstances of death: deathly cold, cooling the body after death, is determined primarily by the ambient temperature and is usually not helpful, rigor mortis, which occurs in skeletal muscles and starts between five and ten hours after death and disappears after three or four days, the cadaverous pallor, purple color that appears in the dependent parts of the body and which is the result of the accumulation of blood. For this reason, organs can be extracted from a newly dead body and transplanted to a living person.

It is important to emphasize that the physical functions of the body of an individual are not instantaneously, but successively eliminated once the brain has stopped working. Some, such as breathing and heart activity, cease almost instantly, but these functions can be sustained for a limited time, usually no more than a few days, with the help of artificial means. Some spinal reflexes can survive for days even after a complete and irreversible cessation of all brain functions. Today, the law determines that a person is dead when brain death has occurred, despite the fact that brain cells make ...