Worldwide, two distinct forms of death are recognized ; namely irreversible stoppage of heart and breathing (cardiopulmonary death) and Brain death (BD). The crucial part of the brain is its stem i.e. brain stem. A person can survive even if heart and breathing stop, which can be replicated by machines but if brain-stem is damaged irreversibly, a person can not survive.The usual cause of brain stem damage is mechanical injury following road traffic accident, hemorrhage or tumor. The person who is thus brain dead can have beating heart but never ever recovers consciousness.
Ultimately his heart also stops. Such a brain dead person has normally functioning organs except the dead brain. These organs can be donated to needy patients. Have we ever thought about the plight of the person who is staring at death every moment but does not actually die? A person living with any organ failure…
