DETERMINING DEATH

GENERAL QUESTIONS

• When is a person determined dead?
• Should a person in a vegetative state be declared dead?
• If a person can not physically function should they be declared dead?
• What should happen to a patient who will never wake up but has brain activity?

NATURAL DEATH

• There are two ways doctors use to declare a person dead. If a person's heart and lungs cease to function, or if there is no brain activity known as "Brain death"

VEGETATIVE STATE

• The vegetative state is a clinical condition of complete unawareness of the self and the environment.
• Patients can never fully recover, but they can transition to a minimally conscious state.

COMA

• Eyes closed
• Unable to follow instructions
• No speech or other forms of communication
• No purposeful movement

Untitled Slide

• 10% of coma patients open their eyes but are not conscious
• Patients who don't recover from a coma within a year are likely to never regain consciousness, but may live for many more years

VIDEO

• https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A04AvsGH0FU

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

• If someone close to you was in a vegetative state, what would you do?
• If you yourself were in a vegetative state, what would you like to have done to you?
• What can we do to raise awareness of the seriousness of comas and vegetative states in America today?

WORK CITED

• "BibleGateway." .com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016. "Determination of Death Act Summary." Determination of Death Act Summary. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016. "Practice Parameters for Determining Brain Death in Adults: (Summary Statement)." Neurology 45.5 (1995): 1012-014. Web. "Legal Definitions of Death." Legal Definitions of Death. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016 "Determination of Death Act Summary." Determination of Death Act Summary. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.