Family of dead, pregnant woman is suing Texas for using her body as an incubator.

[pnwmom]

195. If her brain stem is dead, then her heart isn't beating either -- not on its own.

Her heart wasn't beating when she was found, and they believe she stopped breathing an hour or longer before then. The ventilator is what is making her heart beat now, but it would stop if they took her off of it.

On top of everything else, her body has already started to decay. Her father says that her skin texture has already become rubbery, and he's sickened by it.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/pregnant-lifesupport-case-hospital-v-family-3090.shtml#.UtHxPHmQdlI

On Tuesday afternoon, in the rural community about 30 minutes outside downtown Fort Worth where they live, Ernest Machado and his wife took care of Mateo while the boys father was at work in Crowley, a nearby town. As he held Mateo in his arms, Machado recalled touching his daughters skin as she lay in the hospital. She felt more like a mannequin, Machado said. That makes it very hard for me to go up and visit. I dont want to remember her as a rubber figure.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/09/ethicists-criticize-treatment-brain-dead-patients/4394173/

The California child, McMath, was pronounced brain-dead by the coroner's office, after suffering rare complications from a Dec. 9 tonsillectomy. Unlike patients in a vegetative state, who have some brain activity, people declared brain-dead are no longer alive, says Laurence McCullough, a professor at the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The term "brain death" simply refers to the method of determining death, he says.

By moving the lungs up and down, a ventilator can "give the appearance of life," Caplan says. That also can stimulate a heart beat. Once the machines are disconnected, however, breathing and circulation stop.