Term paper on death and dying Life support is a controversial and sensitive topic. When someone is on life support, their brain is completely unconscious. Although their brain is no longer in active, natural function, a life support machine keeps their organs alive and functioning. Life support is administered during an emergency. It helps keep a person's body alive, while their brain is dead. Brain death is an irreversible condition, and doctors perform numerous tests before establishing this diagnosis. There are two ways a person dies: cardiopulmonary death or brain death. Both are formal, legal definitions of death. Cardiopulmonary death is the irreversible loss of heart and lung function. People who have suffered irreparable brain damage (such as head trauma or stroke) are diagnosed with brain death, which is "the irreversible cessation of all brain function," according to the University of Miami Health System. Many may wonder, how can a person be diagnosed? as “brain dead”? Well, this is very simple. The brainstem is the lowest part of the brain where it is connected to the spinal cord. This part of the brain is responsible for most of the body's automatic functions essential to life: breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and swallowing, says Britain's National Health System. The brainstem also carries out the exchange of information between the brain and the rest of the body, so it is essential for the functions of awareness, knowledge and movement. There is no chance of regaining consciousness once the brainstem is permanently damaged and this adds to the inability to breathe or maintain body functions, which is death for the individual, the NHS says. When someone is brain dead, there is no blood flow. .... middle of paper ... or someone to hold on to the never-ending possibility that someone might "wake up" after being brain dead for so long. The scientific and medical world has advanced in ways that a normal person could understand. They have specific tests where they can determine whether a person is completely brain dead or simply in a coma where they have a chance of waking up. No one should have to depend on a car to sustain their life. Being brain dead could be a heartbreaking and very emotional topic to discuss among family and friends. It is understandable that some people cannot understand the irreversible death of their loved one, or understand how their heart is still beating and their brain is in a state of unconsciousness, but drag out their lives and tie their loved ones to a support machine vital may seem rather selfish and careless on their part.