Brain Death with Prolonged Somatic Survival

Abstract

IT is widely held that in patients with brain death who are receiving continued ventilation and full medical care, spontaneous cessation of the heartbeat will ensue within a period of hours or a few days.1 2 3 In this report, we describe a middle-aged man in whom a number of generally accepted sets of clinical criteria for brain death were met, and in whom cardiac activity ceased only after ventilatory support was discontinued over two months later.Case ReportA 49-year-old man with a prior history of heart disease and psychiatric illness had a cardiorespiratory arrest during a physical altercation. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation . . .