re: Mike Leach in critical condition, unknown medical event.

quote:

---

So “very little” brain activity. Stopping medical equipment wouldn’t necessarily be the end?

---

Not referring to the current situation…

‘Very little brain activity’ is very ambiguous… if a brain suffered anoxic (deprived of oxygen) injury, the location of the injury could be the frontal cortex which affect higher brain functions, the motor cortex, and/or the brain stem.

The brain stem housed most of our autonomic functions like breathing, temperature control, heart rate…

So if the brain injury only hit the frontal cortex, but spared the brain stem, shutting off the ventilator/pulling the plug on life support will not stop the patient’s respiratory drive… they are in a vegetative state… pretty horrific state.

So the brain injury also affected the brain stem functions, then the ventilator is the only thing that is keeping the patient ‘alive’… pulling the plug will let the patient pass…

Usually, the doctors will perform several tests to determine ‘brain death’, a blood perfusion scan will show how much brain is still using blood, and they will momentarily withdraw sedation and paralytic drips, then stop the ventilator to see if the patient will exhibit any spontaneous respiratory efforts.

Some family members would want to witness these tests to make absolutely sure of their decisions… it is pretty traumatic for the family members and even for the medical staff to be there… hoping to see a spontaneous breath…