From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
- For
other uses, see
Death (disambiguation).
Death is the cessation
of physical
life in a living
organism or the state of the
organism after that event.
Interpretations of "Death"
In almost all societies, death
has one or several symbols
associated with it. Common symbols
of death in Western cultures
include the
grim reaper and the color
black; conversely, in certain
Eastern cultures, the color white
is considered symbolic of death.
The
grave is a
metonym for death.
Biologically, death can occur
to wholes, to parts of wholes, or
to both. For example, it is
possible for individual
cells and even
organs to die, and yet for the
organism as a whole to continue to
live; many individual cells can
live for only a short time, and so
most of an organism's cells are
continually dying and being
replaced by new ones.
Conversely, when organisms die
their cells can live for some time
afterward. Organs, for instance,
can be removed for
transplantation. They must be
removed and transplanted quickly,
or they too will soon die without
the support of their host. Rarely,
cell cultures can be "immortal" as
in the case of
Henrietta Lacks'
HeLa cell line.
Fingernails and hair appear
to grow after a person's death,
as, due to bodily dehydration, the
flesh pulls away from the hair and
nails. In ancient times, this led
to confusion about whether a body
was actually dead, and added to
the myth of
vampires.
Irreversibility is often
cited as a key feature of death.
By definition, a dead organism
cannot be brought back to life; if
it were to be, that would indicate
that it had never been dead.
Nonetheless, many people do not
believe that death is necessarily
irreversible; thus some have a
religious belief in bodily or
spiritual
resurrection, while others
have hope for the eventual
prospects of
cryonics or other
technological means of reversing
what is currently thought of as
death.
It has been hypothesized that a
limited lifespan is a consequence
of
evolution not selecting for
extreme
longevity in most species, as
evolutionary selection only need
apply to the organism up to the
point of reproduction; after that,
except for caring for kin, the
continued existence of an
individual can have little effect
on the survival of its gene line.
A common assumption is that the
Second Law of Thermodynamics
dictates that all complex systems
must eventually deteriorate, so it
is not likely that any species
could ever be
immortal. However, this aspect
of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics only applies to
closed systems, which a living
organism obviously is not.
Ways of Defining Human Death:
Medical, Religious, and Legal
Human death can be defined by
three dramatically different but
overlapping domains:
medical,
religious, and
legal. These different domains
and their imporance have evolved
over time and can vary from person
to person. So when talking about
death, it is important to
differentiate which domain we are
speaking of and to have a general
understanding of how each defines
death.
There are various ways of
defining medical death. Early in
western culture, death was
connected to the
heart first and then later the
lungs. When these stopped
working, a person was dead. It was
sometime later that the brain came
into the equation. One of the
first series tests for brain death
was the
Harvard brain test. The test
consisted of squirting ice cold
water into the patient's ear. If
they screamed, they were still
alive. Another test involved
poking the patients foot with a
pin and looking for similar
results. In 1963 a device called
an
electroencephalogram (EEG) was
invented that could very
accurately measure the electrical
output of the brain. The test
showed that when the machine
registered zero electrical output
from a person's brain (also known
as a flat EEG) for 36 hours, the
patient could be considered dead.
We now know that a person can
continue to be medically alive
until their brain stem dies.
Patients in a
persistent vegetative state
still have an active brain stem.
Legally a person can be
pronounced dead in three different
ways. By far the most common
pronoucer of death is a medical
doctor or a doctor of ostyopathy.
Second would be a coroner or a
state medical examiner. A coroner
is a an elected offical who is
most often also a mortician or has
had some experience in police
work. Hospice workers can also be
deputised as coroners. State
medical examiner, however, is an
appointed position. The third way
a person can be pronounced legal
dead is by the courts. After a
person has disappeared for
sometime, the courts will
pronounce them dead so their
property can be distributed in the
appropriate way. A death
certificate is a legal document
that contains how, when, and why a
person died and who pronounced
them dead.
In religous terms, a person is
dead when the soul or essence has
left the body. The question would
be then, when has the soul left
the body. Various tests have been
created to test when the soul has
left the body, incluiding weighing
the body before and after death.
See the section below for concepts
on what happens to a person after
they die.
When is a person dead?
How can we identify the exact
moment at which death has
occurred? This seems important,
because identifying that moment
would allow us to put the correct
time on death certificates, make
sure that the deceased's will is
enacted only after the deceased is
truly deceased, and, in general,
guide us in emotional behavior
regarding death. In particular,
identifying the moment of death is
important in cases of
transplantation, as organs
must be harvested as quickly as
possible after death.
Historically, attempts to
define the exact moment of death
have been problematic. Death was
once defined as the cessation of
heartbeat (cardiac
arrest) and of
breathing, for example, but
the development of
CPR and early
defibrillation posed a
challenge: either the definition
of death was incorrect, or
techniques had been discovered
that really allowed one to reverse
death (because, in some cases,
breathing and heartbeat can be
restarted). Generally, the first
option was chosen. (Today this
definition of death is known as "clinical
death".)
Today, where a definition of
the moment of death is required,
we usually turn to "brain
death" or "biological death":
people are considered dead when
the electrical activity in their
brain ceases (cf.
persistent vegetative state).
It is presumed that a stoppage of
electrical activity indicates the
end of
consciousness.
Brain activity is a necessary
condition to legal personhood,
and, perhaps with the exception of
the
fetus, it is a sufficient
condition for legal personhood. "It
appears that once brain death has
been determined … no criminal or
civil liability will result from
disconnecting the life-support
devices." Dority v. Superior
Court of San Bernardino County,
193 Cal.Rptr. 288, 291 (1983)
However, those maintaining that
only the
neo-cortex of the brain is
necessary for consciousness
sometimes argue that only
electrical activity there should
be considered when defining death.
In most places the more
conservative definition of death
(cessation of electrical activity
in the whole brain, as opposed to
just in the neo-cortex) has been
adopted (for example the
Uniform Determination Of Death Act
in the
United States). The recent
case of
Terri Schiavo brought the
question of brain-death and
artificial sustainment to the
front of American politics.
However, in all cases the common
cause of death is
anoxia.
Even in these cases, the
determination of death can be
difficult. EEGs can detect
spurious electrical impulses when
none exists, while there have been
cases in which electrical activity
in a living brain has been too low
for EEGs to detect. Because of
this, hospitals often have
elaborate protocols for
determining death involving EEGs
at widely separated intervals.
Medical history contains many
anecdotal references to people
being declared dead by physicians
and coming back to life, sometimes
days later in their own coffin or
when
embalming procedures are about
to get underway. Stories of people
actually being buried alive (which
must assume embalming has not
occurred) led at least one
inventor in the early
20th century to design an
alarm system that could be
activated from within the coffin.
Because of the difficulties in
determining death, under most
emergency protocols, a
first responder is not
authorized to pronounce a patient
dead; some EMT training manuals,
for example, specifically state
that a person is not to be assumed
dead unless there are clear and
obvious indications that death has
occurred, such as mortal
decapitation, rigor mortis
(the stiffening of the body),
dependent lividity (blood pooling
in the lowest part of the body),
decomposition, or incineration. If
there is any possibility of life
and in the absence of a
do not resuscitate order,
emergency workers must begin
rescue and not end it until a
patient has been brought to a
hospital to be examined by a
physician. This frequently leads
to situation of a patient being
pronounced
dead on arrival.
It is also possible that death
does not occur at a particular
moment, but unfolds as a process
over a period of time. Under this
definition, the term "exact moment
of death" loses meaning.
Cause of death in the United
States
The cause of death in certain
area and certain group of ages are
different according to area and
each group. In 2002 in the U.S.
the top 10 causes of death were:
-
Heart Disease: 696,947
-
Cancer: 557,271
-
Stroke: 162,672
- Chronic lower
respiratory diseases:
124,816
-
Accidents (unintentional
injuries): 106,742
-
Diabetes: 73,249
-
Influenza/Pneumonia:
65,681
-
Alzheimer's disease: 58,866
-
Nephritis,
nephrotic syndrome, and
nephrosis: 40,974
-
Septicemia: 33,865
Other notable causes of death
in the United States (2002)
-
Intentional Abortion:
1,293,000
- Note that there is much
debate as to when a
fetus is declared a
"human." The death of a human
zygote — a one-celled
combination of a sperm and an
egg — is counted by some as
the death of a human, and by
others as simply the death of
a cell. This number would
apparently include abortions
to save the life of the
mother, abortions of obviously
highly defective fetuses, and
abortions of fetuses unlikely
to reach term.
Statistical data from:
U.S. Department of Health & Human
Services
Death Penalty Information Center
National Right To Life, and
The Alan Guttmacher Institute
What happens to humans after
death?
The second question is of what,
apart from the cessation of
metabolism and the onset of
physiological processes of decay,
happens, especially to humans,
during and after death (or "once
dead", thinking of death as a
permanent state). In particular,
there is the question of what
becomes of
consciousness or the
soul. Such questions are of
long standing, and belief in an
afterlife (such as an
underworld), or in
reincarnation, are common and
ancient. The rational belief that
any and all consciousness ceases
to exist at death, and that death
("after-life") itself is
ultimately the exact same
experience as prior to conception
("before life"), is common in
atheism/agnosticism.
Conversely, religious belief in
and information about an afterlife
is a consolation in connection
with the death of a beloved one or
the prospect of one's own death.
On the other hand, fear of
hell or other negative
consequences may make death worse.
Human contemplation about death is
an important motivation for the
development of organized
religion.
Traditions exist across most
cultures to mourn the death of
loved ones. Many
archaeologists feel that the
careful burials among
Homo neanderthalensis,
where
ochre ornamented bodies were
laid in carefully dug
graves, is evidence of
ritualised burial. This may
indicate early religious belief
which, furthermore, might include
a concept of an
afterlife.
Physiological consequences of
human death
For the human body, the
physiological consequences of
death follow a recognized sequence
through early changes into
bloating, then decay to
changes after decay and finally
skeletal remains.
The changes in the immediate
post-death stage have received the
most attention for two
reasons—firstly it is the stage
mostly likely to be seen by the
living and secondly because of the
research of
forensics in potential crimes.
Soon after death (15–120
minutes depending on various
factors), the body begins to cool
(algor
mortis), becomes pallid (pallor
mortis), and internal
sphincter muscles relax, leading
to the release of
urine,
feces, and
stomach contents if the body
is moved. The blood moves to pool
in the lowest parts of the body,
livor mortis (dependent
lividity), within 30 minutes and
then begins to coagulate. The body
experiences muscle stiffening (rigor
mortis) which peaks at around
12 hours after death and is gone
in another 24, depending on
temperature. Within a day, the
body starts to show signs of
decomposition (decay),
both
autolytic changes and from
'attacking' organisms—bacteria,
fungi,
insects,
mammalian scavengers, etc.
Internally, the body structures
begin to collapse, the skin loses
integration with the underlying
tissues, and bacterial action
creates gases which cause bloating
and swelling. The rate of decay is
enormously variable; a body can be
reduced to skeletal remains in
days, or remain largely intact for
thousands of years.
In most cultures, before the
onset of significant decay, the
body undergoes ritual disposal,
usually either
cremated or deposited in a
tomb, often a hole in the
earth called a
grave, but also in a
sarcophagus, a
crypt,
sepulchre, or
ossuary, a mound or barrow, or
endlessly monumental surface
structures, a
mausoleum such as the
Taj Mahal. In
Tibet, one method of corpse
disposal is
sky burial, which involves
placing the body of the deceased
in a high ground (mountain)
and dispose it ritually —
especially to
birds of prey. Sometimes this
is because in some religious
views, birds of
prey are carriers of
soul to heaven, but other
times, this simply reflect the
fact that when terrain (Tibet)
makes the ground too hard to dig,
there aren't many trees around to
burn and the local religion (Buddhism)
believes that the body after death
is only an empty shell, there are
more practical ways of disposing a
body, like, for example, leaving
it for animals. On the other hand
in certain cultures efforts are
made to retard the decay processes
before burial (resulting even in
the retard of decay processes
after the burial) ,
mummification or
embalming. This happens during
or after a
funeral ceremony. Many
funeral customs exist in
different cultures.
A new alternative is "ecological
burial". This involves
subsequently deep-freezing,
pulverisation by vibration,
freeze-drying, removing
metals, and burying the
resulting powder, which has 30% of
the body mass.
Graves are usually grouped
together in a plot of land called
a
cemetery or "graveyard" and
can be arranged by a
funeral home,
mortuary ,
undertaker or by a
church.
Personification of death
Main article:
Death (personification)
Death is also a
mythological figure who has
existed in popular culture since
the earliest days of storytelling.
The traditional Western image of
Death, known as the
Grim Reaper, is employed on a
tarot card and in various
television shows and
films. Some examples:
- Death is a major character
in the
Discworld series by
Terry Pratchett.
- An
unusual personification of
Death appears in
Neil Gaiman's
Sandman graphic novels.
- In
Ingmar Bergman's
The Seventh Seal, a
knight plays a game of chess
against Death.
- Death is also portrayed as a
Grim Reaper-esque character in
TV shows such as
Family Guy and
video and computer games
such as
The Sims.
- In the film,
Meet Joe Black, a remake
of
Death Takes a Holiday,
Death inhabits the body of a
young man to experience life
firsthand.
- In the film,
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey,
Death is the bassist for Wyld
Stallyns.
- In the TV series
Dead Like Me, the main
characters are all Grim Reapers
as part of a post-life
bureaucracy.
- The series
Touched by an Angel
featured the
Angel of Death as a regular
character, depicted as a kindly,
soft-spoken man in his mid-30s.
- The
Angel of Death also appeared
in the show
Charmed as a man that
appeared before those who had
died to take them to the
afterlife. He was nor good or
evil. Prue Halliwell learned
that she could not stop Death in
its tracks, no matter how much
she tried. She escaped her own
fate, however, she was killed a
few episodes later by the demon
Shax. Later, her sister Piper
had to take the role of the
Angel of Death and take her own
sister Paige to the afterlife,
which was avoided when they
"fooled" Death by making a trade
for Paige's life and that of a
demon.
- Death is also a recurring
character in the
Castlevania video games. He
is usually described as
Dracula's servant, and is
therefore evil. He is almost
always a boss, and appears
usually near the end of the
game. He uses the scythe, and
often transforms into more
hideous forms.
See also
