Brain dead, coma

[murulidhara]

Are brain dead and coma the same? When a person is dclared dead is it when both brain and haert stops working? How long a person can be i n coma stage?

Thanks

[insane_alien]

no they are not the same. the brain is still alive in a coma patient(thats why you can come out of a coma).

 

you can be in a coma for years there is no limit other than your lifespan.

 

a person is clinically dead when their heart stops but isn't actually dead till their brain stops. IIRC

[YT2095]

Brain Stem dead and you`ve bought the farm!

[Sisyphus]

 

a person is clinically dead when their heart stops but isn't actually dead till their brain stops. IIRC

 

Wikipedia isn't really clear, but it seems like "actual" death is when the brain is not just stopped but incapable of starting again (which normally happens within a few minutes of the former, due to rapid brain damage).

[insane_alien]

well, i'm no quincey.

[Phi for All]

I had an aunt who just finished having breakfast with her husband, stood up and called out his name, then keeled over dead, probably dead before she hit the floor. She had no pulse and my uncle did what you're supposed to do, he called 911. Paramedics put her on a resuscitator and got her heart going again but when they got her to the hospital and hooked her into an EEG she had no brain activity. They kept her "alive" for two days while family said their goodbyes. The doctor called it brain-death, not the persistent vegetative state of a coma.

[lucaspa]

For coma: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch212/ch212a.html?qt=coma&alt=sh

 

Brain death: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch212/ch212d.html

 

Compare and contrast for yourself.

[Realitycheck]

When the body starts to stiffen up, then they are dead

[ecoli]

When the body starts to stiffen up, then they are dead

so if I lie rigid, then I'm considered dead?

[insane_alien]

i think he means rigor mortis

[Sisyphus]

...not the persistent vegetative state of a coma.

 

Again, nitpicking, but those aren't the same thing. A coma is a state of unconsciousness in which the brain functions, but the body does not respond to stimuli or wake up. In a persistent vegetative state, the person can be "awake" but not aware of anything, and there is no higher brain function.

[murulidhara]

thanks

murulidhara