As muscles relax, sphincter tone diminishes, and urine and feces will pass. Within minutes of the heart stopping, a process called pallor mortis causes the body to grow pale4 as blood drains from the smaller veins in the skin. This process may be more visible in those with light skin rather than darker skin.

For example, if the individual died by carbon monoxide poisoning, the lividity will likely be cherry red in color. Similarly, if the body was refrigerated post mortem, the lividity will likely be pink to cherry red in color, due to retained oxygen.

Carbon monoxide poisoning produces a persistent cherry red color and cyanide poisoning will also cause the red color to persist. Lividity may not be seen in bodies that are very anemic at death. The collapse of the blood vessels may cause this slight red coloration, which does not indicate any other cause of death.”

Note the bright “cherry red” or bright pink lividity to the hand. Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a form of asphyxia that results when CO is inhaled, diffuses across alveoli, and binds tightly to hemoglobin.

Most of the appearance of a dead body over time is due to putrefaction: Bloating. Green discoloration of abdomen. Marbling along blood vessels-a brown black discoloration in blood vessels caused by hydrogen sulfide gas.

Taylor died on the evening of July 9, after four days of suffering from symptoms that included severe cramping, diarrhea, nausea and dehydration. His personal physicians concluded that he had succumbed to cholera morbus, a bacterial infection of the small intestine.

Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. It is not possible to wake a coma patient using physical or auditory stimulation. They’re alive, but can’t be woken up and show no signs of being aware. The person’s eyes will be closed and they’ll appear to be unresponsive to their environment.

The experience of being in a coma differs from person to person. Some people feel they can remember events that happened around them while they were in a coma, while others don’t. Some people have reported feeling enormous reassurance from the presence of a loved one when coming out of a coma.

They cannot speak and their eyes are closed. They look as if they are asleep. However, the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. It might “hear” the sounds in the environment, like the footsteps of someone approaching or the voice of a person speaking.

People in a coma are completely unresponsive. They do not move, do not react to light or sound and cannot feel pain.

Their questions were answered on June 11, 2003, as, incredibly, Wallis awoke from his 19-year coma — making him the survivor of the longest coma on record, matched, in years, by only one other person.

Elaine Esposito

A comatose patient may open his eyes, move and even cry while still remaining unconscious. His brain-stem reflexes are attached to a nonfunctioning cortex. Reflex without reflection. Many professionals speak of this condition as a ”persistent vegetative state.

It can be confusing to be told someone has brain death, because their life support machine will keep their heart beating and their chest will still rise and fall with every breath from the ventilator. But they will not ever regain consciousness or start breathing on their own again.

Recovery may be grouped into the following four stages:

• Stage 1: Unresponsiveness. During this stage the patient does not respond consistently or appropriately.
• Stage 2: Early responses.
• Stage 3: Agitated and confused.
• Stage 4: Higher level responses.

It can be seen that the likelihood of a good recovery in all patients is only 10%. It is less than 5% in those who have suffered subarachnoid haemorrhage or stroke, about 10% in those with hypoxic–ischaemic injury, but as high as 25% in those metabolic or infective causes of coma.

Comas are caused by damage to the brain, specifically the diffused bilateral cerebral hemisphere cortexor the reticular activating system. This area of the brain controls arousal and awareness.

Does an individual feel any pain or suffer after brain death is declared? No. When someone is dead, there is no feeling of pain or suffering.

However no one can recover from brain death. If the clinician has any doubt as to whether there can be even minimal recovery, brain death is not declared. A determination of brain death means that the patient has died; brain death is irreversible.

How long can a coma last? According to the National Institutes of Health, it is uncommon for comas to exceed 2 to 4 weeks. However, there is no limit to how long a coma may last under certain conditions. Some patients have remained in a coma for decades.

Usually, a coma does not last more than a few weeks. Sometimes, however, a person stays in a coma for a long time — even years — and will be able to do very little except breathe on his or her own. Most people do come out of comas. Some of them are able to return to the normal lives they had before they got sick.

Brain death results from swelling in the brain; blood flow in the brain ceases and without blood to oxygenate the cells, the tissue dies. It is irreversible. Once brain tissue dies, there is nothing that can be done to heal it.

The most common reasons for medically induced coma involve traumatic brain injuries. These brain injuries often result in significant swelling of the brain. The swelling puts pressure on the brain. This reduces blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain, which can damage brain tissue.

Some people become fully conscious and are able to resume a normal life, while others may spend the rest of their lives in a coma. According to the How Stuff Works website, a coma is typically not going to last more than two to four weeks. A patient will start to regain awareness over a gradual period of time.

Patient appears to be in a deep sleep and is completely unresponsive to external stimuli. COMA. II – Generalized. Patient reacts inconsistently and non-purposefully to stimuli in a non-specific manner.

Bleeding: Bleeding in the layers of the brain may cause coma due to swelling and compression on the injured side of the brain. This compression causes the brain to shift, causing damage to the brainstem and the RAS (mentioned above).