I am sorry, I did start to write an answer, but it is getting very long and I still have not said everything I want to say in it.
I cannot promise an answer today—I have to leave for work now, and I promised to go with my son to see Star Wars tonight. So this is also a ping to myself to finish up the answer that I want to post, maybe tomorrow.
Thanks for this response, exDemMom,
When you do have a chance, also reference this post by you:
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I’m not sure if the link will work, but I will put it here anyway.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01400587#page-1
Looking at the figures in the article, it appears that the longest they have kept a corpse somewhat functional after death is about 52 days.
This group, led by T. Yoshioka of Osaka University Medical School, Japan, apparently has done a number of studies in brain dead people.
In any case, I doubt that the heart will continue to beat in this corpse for much longer. Almost certainly, whatever facility they moved her to will not have advanced life-support equipment. The length of time this corpse has been kept ventilated is already beyond the average seen in Yoshioka’s studies (23.1 +/- 19.1 days) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3714004).
The judge who has allowed this travesty to continue long past the girl’s death is reprehensible. I have no words to describe the lawyer Dolan, who must be aware of the facts yet continues to lead the family on.
I think there will be severe legal ramifications in this case. Hospitals do not usually release corpses except for transport to medical examiners or funeral homes.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3108741/posts?page=31#31
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It is quite interesting to see where the clear legal ramifications lie today, two years later.