What is Death?

The exact moment of death is often the topic of many talk shows, books, and movies. Historically the definition has been problematic but the most commonly accepted definition is the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac activity) and breathing.

Death is the end of life as we know it. It is a biological concept that entails the cessation of the biological functions such as heartbeat and breath that sustains life for humans, animals, and any other biological organism. Many causes for human death can be determined including accidents, the natural aging process, disease, malnutrition, homicide, predator attacks, and suicide. Human culture has created many traditions and beliefs centered around the concept of death, many related to particular religions. The advancing technology redefines death and makes the definition of death and the biological details of death more complicated.

The exact moment of death is often the topic of many talk shows, books, and movies. Historically the definition has been problematic but the most commonly accepted definition is the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac activity) and breathing. The advances that science and the medical community have made over the years have often times cheated this definition and expanded upon the "exactness" of the moment of death. An example would be the development of CPR and medical equipment such as the defibrillation or "crash cart"; that have succeeded in restarting the heartbeat and prompted the term, "clinical death" to be invented.

Another death terminology that has become important in today's society is "brain death" or "biological death". These two terms describe the electrical activity of the brain that can be monitored and recorded. When there is no activity registered the patient is considered to be biologically dead or "brain dead". A consistent pattern of "no electrical activity" being monitored of the brain will precipitate the doctor declaring that the patient is now in a vegetative state. This state means that the individual has no consciousness. There are those who will argue that death should be determined to be when there is no "cognitive function", as determined by the death of the cerebral cortex which encompasses definition of "the permanent and irreversible loss of cognitive function". The EEG machine is used to determine brain electrical activity and hospitals have protocols in place for administering and reading EEGs when making the determination of death.

Death Records They may become cold or even feel hot. Blankets will bring comfort but stay away from electric blankets or electrical heating pads. Death Records

Many individuals have the fear of being falsely diagnosed as being dead when they are in fact still alive. Many movies and soap opera scenes have been written around this fear. To prevent this occurring in reality first responders are usually not authorized to declare patients as being "dead", and physicians and EMTs have protocol to follow in order to make the declaration of death to ensure that false declarations of death are avoided at all cost.

There are several conditions that are noted, that if present than death can be assumed such as: mortal decapitation, rigor mortis, livor mortis, decomposition of body tissue.

Definitions associated with death:

First responder - the first medical trained responder to arrive on a scene which can be police, EMS, fire or a volunteer trained rescuer.

Decapitation - comes from the latin word caput, capitis, meaning head. It literally means to have a person that has been beheaded. The head has been removed from a living organism. Usually it refers to an intentional beheading by murder or execution but it can also occur accidentally as in an explosion or vehical accident, industrial accident or other violent injury to the neck. Decapitation is alway fatal with death occuring within seconds or minutes of the separation.

Rigor mortis - is the state of rigidity of a body that naturally occurs after the body functions have ceased.

Livor mortis - is the pooling of blood in the part of the body which is at the lowest elevation.

EMT - Emergency Medical Technician

DNR - Do not resuscitation.

DOA - Dead on arrival.

CPR - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is artificial blood circulation and artificial breath movements.

News About Death & Dying

09/03/2010
On Spanish Roads, Just 10 Minutes Could Prevent One-Third Of Deaths
Spanish researchers have calculated the probability of dying in road accidents on the basis of the time taken for the emergency services to arrive. Their conclusions are clear - reducing the time between an accident taking place and the arrival of the emergency services from 25 to 15 minutes would cut the risk of death by one-third. "The average wait after an accident until the emergency medical ...

On Spanish Roads, Just 10 Minutes Could Prevent One-Third Of Deaths

09/03/2010
Young Black Males Dying in Detroit at Alarming Rates
Filed under: News , Politics , President Obama , Race and Civil Rights African-American males in Detroit between the ages of 15 and 24 are dying at a rate that is roughly seven times higher than the rest of the Detroit population. If they were dying at the same rate as everyone else, there would be one death every three weeks. Instead, there are two black men dying every single week. This has ...

Young Black Males Dying in Detroit at Alarming Rates

09/03/2010
Reduction in time of arrival of emergency services by 10 minutes could reduce risk of death by one-third
Spanish researchers have calculated the probability of dying in road accidents on the basis of the time taken for the emergency services to arrive. Their conclusions are clear - reducing the time between an accident taking place and the arrival of the emergency services from 25 to 15 minutes would cut the risk of death by one-third.

Reduction in time of arrival of emergency services by 10 minutes could reduce risk of death by one-third

09/03/2010
Rx for death: Troop deaths soar with prescriptions for war wounded - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy ...
It happens on average once every five days — an active-duty service member is found dead from an accidental drug or alcohol overdose.

Rx for death: Troop deaths soar with prescriptions for war wounded - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy ...

09/02/2010
Songs about death, dying and killing
Well, as you know, I often like to make it a light and breezy - fun - Friday topic. So here we go then: what are your favourite songs about death; about dying?  Songs where someone is doing the killing, or talking about those being killed...maybe there are songs about suicide you like? (I'd recommend Soaky in the Pooper by Lambchop ).

Songs about death, dying and killing

09/03/2010
Young Black Males Dying in Detroit at Alarming Rates
Filed under: News , Politics , President Obama , Race and Civil Rights African-American males in Detroit between the ages of 15 and 24 are dying at a rate that is roughly seven times higher than the rest of the Detroit population. If they were dying at the same rate as everyone else, there would be one death every three weeks. Instead, there are two black men dying every single week. This has ...

Young Black Males Dying in Detroit at Alarming Rates