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.
This person might not be a problem. In other cases, however, there seems to be a sausage making haste.
That’s why I would be leery about signing an organ donation authorization. To give someone the shirt off my back while I can meet them is one thing. To say you can give them my guts is something I might not trust you to do right.