Brain death is the irreversible end of all 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. Patients classified as brain dead can have their organs surgically removed for organ donation.
Brain death, either of the whole brain or the brain stem, is used as a legal indicator of death in many jurisdictions.
Read more about Brain Death: Legal History, Medical Criteria, Consciousness, Organ Donation
Famous quotes containing the words brain and/or death:
“My brain sang
a rhythm I never dreamt to sing,
“I will be gay and laugh and sing,
he is going away.””
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank, God only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink rather than the drink to the insanity. I had indeed, nearly abandoned all hope of a permanent cure when I found one in the death of my wife.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)