Good piece in the Guardian by a palliative care doctor on this case
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -treatment
"... brain death is not the same as a coma, persistent vegetative state or locked-in syndrome. Occasionally, with these conditions, a seemingly miraculously recovery can occur. But brain death means a permanent, irreversible and complete loss of brain function, including the lower part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord. This part, the brain stem, controls most of the body’s automatic functions that are essential for life, such as breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and swallowing. If a person’s brain stem has died – for instance, through prolonged lack of oxygen – their body can only be kept alive with artificial life support; breathing only occurs because mechanical ventilators, invented in the 1950s, forcibly push air in and out of the lungs.
Mechanical ventilation enables time for the staggeringly altruistic gift of organ donation. Yet it also generates the immensely painful and bewildering experience for some families of seeing their loved one apparently asleep – chest rhythmically rising and falling – only to be told that they have died. We strive as doctors to be as clear, respectful and compassionate as we possibly can in our communication with relatives. But there is no avoiding the devastating fact that these patients will never regain consciousness or start breathing on their own again."
