It is now considered by the medical profession and supported by legal and some e thical consensus that if a person's entire

brain is dead, the person is dead. Th e reason is that if the entire brain is destroyed, there is absence of spontaneo us breathing and expected cessation of heartbeat soon. It is on the basis of thi s concept that all life support treatments which the patient may have had in pla ce before brain death has been established can be removed because the patient is now dead. It also provides the opportunity to obtain organs from a brain dead p atient, who had previously given consent, while the organs are still in good con dition for transplantation. Families of a brain dead patient may have to be educ ated about the physiology. However, some religious groups and even some healthca re workers are uncomfortable with a brain death definition of death since the pa tient may still have a heart beat and wish to wait until there is persisting abs ence of heart beat, the classical criterion.