Answer: If there is only one ventilator that can be used either for an old man who is brain-dead i.e. However, when life support is an option in critical care situations it often becomes a hot button issue, particularly among families. Up here, you have to suffer through to the bitter end. The NHS Trust involved, acting in the patient’s “best interests”, wished to continue treatment, but this was over-ruled by the judge. for several days if the organs will be used for donation, or if the family needs more time to … Doctors sometimes provide support (in the form of a ventilator, hormones, fluids, etc.) If your are in Canada, the life support will be left on likely indefinitely. Life support helps many patients, especially when we use it as a short-term measure to aid their breathing. Brain death (also known as brain stem death) is when a person on an artificial life support machine no longer has any brain functions. At times, the body never regains the ability to function without life support. Usually people use the words life support to refer to a mechanical ventilation machine that helps you breathe even if you’re too injured or sick for your lungs to keep working. The term “life support” refers to any combination of machines and medication that keeps a person’s body alive when their organs would otherwise stop working. In other words, life support i.e. CAN YOU GO HOME ON A VENTILATOR? It … I tried my best with this to explain death and brain functioning as the brain dies. When patients have curable or treatable conditions, life support is used temporarily until the illness or disease can be stabilized and the body can resume normal functioning. The body of a brain-dead person is usually not supported for very long, Greene-Chandos said. because the person is no longer receiving oxygen. That may happen, but often the body can struggle on for an extended period of time off life support, especially a young, fit body. The time that a person will stay prior to his or her death depends on the their condition and the disease. Two young females, both brain dead without warning, remain on ventilators while their devastated families challenge the judgments of their hospitals. The body of a brain-dead person is usually not supported for very long, Greene-Chandos said. She no longer looked like Lori because of the horrible battle her body had gone through trying to hold onto life. An old friend of mine recently lost her father to liver disease. The NHS Trust involved, acting in the patient’s “best interests”, wished to continue treatment, but this was over-ruled by the judge.