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>> Generally? Does that mean that sometimes a patient who is very much alive, without the aid of machines, is declared brain dead?

Yes. And yes they do chop him up for parts. And, finally, yes, this is at odds with the medical definition of brain death, which is complete cessation of brain activity, including the brain stem. The patient therefore cannot breathe on his own, i.e., without life support. For all the uproar, Karen Ann Quinlan was not brain dead.

They almost got Haleigh Poutre this way and she was not even "PVS." "Almost" PVS, they said.

3,194 posted on 05/14/2006 5:03:35 PM PDT by T'wit (Our top bioethicists: 5)Ludwig Minelli 4)nuclear war 3)Ted Bundy 2)Margaret Sanger 1)Eric Pianka.)

3,195 posted on 05/14/2006 5:10:09 PM PDT by BykrBayb ("We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest.")