What do autopsy of dead patients by neurological criteria show?
Examinations (at autopsy) of the brains of patients who have been declared brain-dead, even whole-brain-dead, do not always show that every single brain cell was dead. This does not mean that the brain was capable of functioning or that those cells were capable of function. Even people declared dead based on cardiac criteria, show evidence of cellular life in the cells of the heart for a short time even after the beating of the heart has stopped. This does not mean the heart or the person was “alive.
Examinations (at autopsy) of the brains of patients who have been declared brain-dead, even whole-brain-dead, do not always show that every single brain cell was dead. This does not mean that the brain was capable of functioning or that those cells were capable of function. Even people declared dead based on cardiac criteria, show evidence of cellular life in the cells of the heart for a short time even after the beating of the heart has stopped.
