What is brain death? Everyone will always say that this is a person whose brain doesn't work anymore, right? However, this is not always the case: even after brain death, a person's heart can continue to beat at a very slow and steady pace. Many misunderstandings and different stories make it clear why there is still much controversy about the relationship between determining death and organ donation. When your heart stops, it is normally involved in cardiac arrest. In cardiac arrest, the heart can no longer pump and the body dies. So what are the effects of brain death and cardiac arrest? Brain death is only considered when a person no longer has neurological activity in the brainstem or cerebrum, meaning nothing is happening in the brain. Without a functioning brain, the body does not secrete the important hormones needed to maintain the process. In case of brain death a person cannot maintain contact with their own body temperature, so they are kept with warm intravenous fluids, blankets, etc. According to the IJCCM, brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of a...