This girl was breathing on her own. She was not on life support. Yet they took her organs.
If I'm breathing on my own, I don't want my organs taken like that. Her family didn't either.
Re the notion of 'brain dead' the definition varies by location.
The girl wasn’t breathing on her own. She was dead. By definition, you cannot breathe on your own and also be dead.
Three medical organizations said she was dead, by definition, incapable of breathing on her own.
One grieving family member said otherwise, desperate to believe something that just wasn’t reality.
The definition of brain dead isn’t interchangeable like you suggest. Brain dead is brain dead. There are multiple tests that can be performed, and different places require different criteria as to how many methods, and how many different practitioners must agree, but the result is the same: brain dead is brain dead.
The girl died on Wed. She wasn’t breathing on her own. Who says? The ME, her doctor (who has to certify death before the OPO can take over), another doctor (because Texas law requires two docs sign off on brain death), and the OPO all say she died on Wed. She donated two days after her death.
She died. She wanted to donate. She did. Her final act was heroic. Donations save lives.
One (of many) of the hallmark tests for brain death is an apnea test. You take a patient off vent, giving them only oxygen but no drive.
After several minutes of no respiration, CO2 buildup in the lungs will drive you to breathe, if you have even lower brain function. After several minutes of no observed breathing, a blood gas is drawn and the patient is placed back on vent.
Blood gas will show a dramatic increase in CO2 due to failure to breathe. It’s a two-fold test, watch for breathing and check lab work to see if there were any chemical evidence of respiration (CO2 exchange).
If a patient takes even one breath, the test is over: they aren’t brain dead.