When a person is brain dead, no part of the brain is working in any capacity
and it never will.
When a patient is brain dead, his or her heart stops beating right away as well.
Brain death can never be reversed.
Brain dead and coma are synonyms.
It is possible for a person in a coma to recover consciousness.
Many times, a patient who is brain dead seems to be asleep and still breathes,
albeit with the help of a machine.
In brain death, a minimum of blood flows to the brain.
It is the transplantation team of doctors who evaluate and determine if a patient
is brain dead.
Brain death is recognized as death medically, but not legally.
In brain death, machines temporarily keep blood flowing to the organs so that
they can be recovered for transplantation.
Why do you think it is important that families understand what brain death is?