CLINICAL DEATH SIGNS

Clinical death is the medical term for cessation of blood circulation and breathing, the
two necessary criteria to sustain human and many other organisms' lives. It occurs
when the heart stops beating in a regular rhythm, a condition called cardiac arrest.
The term is also sometimes used in resuscitation research.
At the onset of clinical death, consciousness is lost within several seconds.
Measurable brain activity stops within 20 to 40 seconds. Irregular gasping may occur
during this early time period, and is sometimes mistaken by rescuers as a sign that
CPR is not necessary. During clinical death, all tissues and organs in the body
steadily accumulate a type of injury called ischemic injury
SIGNS INDICATING CLINICAL DEATH
 There is no heart beat
 There is no pulse
 There is no blood pressure
 There is no breathing
 Body temperature drops
 Completely unresponsive to the most painful stimulus
 Absence of all refluxes
 Eyes may remain wide open
 Pupils are widely dilated, fixed and not reacting to light
 Jaws falls open
 Flat encephalogram
 Rigor mortis (stiffing of the body after death, legs and arms cannot be bent or
straightened while rigor mortis present unless the tendons are torn)
 Post mortem hypostasis (dark red or bluish discoloration due to the settling of
blood)