The family of a client who experienced severe head trauma asks the nurse how the client can be dead if the heart is still beating and a ventilator is helping the client breathe. How should the nurse respond to this family?
1. As long as the heart is beating, the client is alive.
2. Brain death occurs when there is a flat encephalogram.
3. The client is considered to have died because he is not breathing on his own.
4. The physician most likely has made an error.
Answer: 2
1. The heart can continue to beat with drugs and respiratory support for a short time after brain death.
2. The client is declared dead with a flat encephalogram, but the heart rate and breathing can be continued with drugs and machines. This allows for the possibility of organ transplant.
3. There are many temporary reasons why a client might stop breathing, such as drug overdose, but the client can be ventilated until normal respirations return.
4. The nurse never tells a client or family that the physician has made an error.
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