Patricia Rigas
Neurologists are in a good position to address the science of the transition from life to death because they make their living by preserving and restoring brain function. This visual essay highlights the areas of neurological expertise required for determining brain death; it also highlights mistakes to avoid during clinical examinations and the interpretation of confirmatory laboratory tests in brain death protocols; it illustrates the wide range of brain death laws around the world; it discusses the benefits of implementing donation after Circulatory Death (DCD); it also highlights unanswered questions regarding DCD and the interval between card and death; and it highlights the great variety of brain death legislation around the world. Near-death experiences, including temporoparietal cortex dysfunction, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonistism, migraine aura, and rapid eye movement sleep; hypothesises that thanatosis—also known as death-feigning—represents the evolutionary origin of NDEs; and ponders the potential consequences of recent efforts to revive the brain in an animal model. The goal is to give the reader a thorough understanding of how, just like everywhere else in clinical neurosciences, the boundaries of the neurology of death and the dying brain are being pushed.