The essence of death

There are for the most part 2 parts of your body wich you need to keep the basic functions going;the heart and the brain.

Technicly speaking the heart exists only to pump blood and most importantly oxyden into the brain. If this flow of oxygen for one reason or another is damaged, then brain damage(in most cases)will occure. Therefor one might say, that all death is always brain death. Technicly one can both die, and return back from the death. There have been number of people who have suffered a cardiac arrest and came back from the dead!

http://www.near-death.com/storm.html

Here is a man, who was in a coma for nearly 20-years!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3052433.stm

But to be technical, all death is always brain death. The one part of wich the body cannot function without. Therefor all suicices, wheter drowning, hanging,  shooting or suffocation all involve some kind of brain death. This is the pure essence of dying!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hypoxia