I have to do a report for english and I need to know what all the characterstics of a dead person are, such as stopped heart and breath. Can someone help me?
I found an Online Medical Dictionary with a quick Google search.
It defines death on this page.
But you should do your homework yourself, young lady. A websearch will get you a lot more (and more reliable) information than you’re likely to get our of non-medical yahoos like me.
Incapable of breathing without mechanical support.
No heartbeat for 30 minutes without CPR or defibrolator.
Pupils fixed and dilated (not reacting to light).
And the one medical ethicists use as the tiebreaker:
Flat EEG (no brain waves) for 24 hours.
absence of vital signs i.e
no spontaneous respirations
no apical pulse
no blood pressure
pupils fixed and dilated
usually an EEG is only done if someone is on a ventilator.
Death can be pronounced if these signs are verified by at least two RN’s who are acting under a Dr’s supervision, or by an MD.
You mean, like, not-alive dead? or like, politically dead? or like, artistically dead? or like “dead in the water”?
And have you considered the possibility of the undead?
If you are talking about your wife, the sex is pretty much the same, but the dishes start to pile up.
In my firm we use the following criteria:
If the deceased is decaptitated, decomposed, incinerated, mutilated/dismembered, has extrusion of brain matter, or has rigor mortis; then death can be presumed to be obvious, and no resuscitative effort is required.
If we attend a patient who has an absent pulse and respirations, has collapsed at least 20 minutes prior to our arrival, and in whom death is not unexpected, then we presume death here also.
If in resuscitating a patient and asystole (flat-line EKG) is present for ten minutes, then this person is also deceased.
All other patients must receive resuscitation until a doctor certifies life extinct.
When their head rolls out of the dufflebag.
Do you mean mostly dead, or all dead?
I nominate Philbuck for the best thread related use of a Princess Bride quote.
When they’re elected Senator of Missouri.
(Yes, that’s horrible. I’m already penitent for mentioning it.)
If they “feel happy” or wish to go for a walk.
[german comedian]
Thank you, I’ll be here all zee veek
[/german comedian]
Seriously though, I was told that a way to tell is to stick the victim in questions’ finger in your ear. The soft “wooshing” sound you hear when you put your own finger in is the sound of either:
A) tiny involuntary muscle movements in your finger or,
B) blood flow in the finger
Both of which would not be present in a corpse.
In the six times I have been in close enough proximity to a dead or supposedly dead body I was unfortunately unable to perform the required experiment.
UL or basis in truth?
When their obituary appears in the Times.
That’s really funny. But what if you have to make decisions based on whether someone is alive or dead? And what if you have no access to medical equipment? And what if you know that people have been revived after being submerged in frozen water for half an hour? You may have to decide quickly whether to leave someone in the wilderness or a burning house for instance.
When the coroner of Munchkinland pronounces her “undeniably, certifiably, most reliably dead.”
Usually when she stops kicking and struggling for more than two minutes she’s dead. Then I have to get another one and start the whole mess anew.