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The human skull is used universally as a symbol of death. [1] Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. [2] The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. [3] Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms.
The definition of legal death, and its formal documentation in a death certificate, vary according to the jurisdiction. The certification applies to somatic death, corresponding to death of the person, which has varying definitions but most commonly describes a lack of vital signs and brain function. [9]
Individual death – termination of all biological functions within a living organism; Extinction – the death of an entire species, or more specifically, death of the last member of a species Extinction event – a widespread and rapid decrease in the amount of life on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp reduction in the diversity ...
Over time, brain death became the more popular definition of biological death, and doctors codified this view in a 2019 position statement by the American Academy of Neurology. Ninety-three ...
While the diagnosis of brain death has become accepted as a basis for the certification of death for legal purposes, it is a very different state from biological death – the state universally recognized and understood as death. [26]
Death was historically believed to be an event that coincided with the onset of clinical death. It is now understood that death is a series of physical events, not a single one, and determination of permanent death is dependent on other factors beyond simple cessation of breathing and heartbeat.
Death is the termination of all vital functions or life processes in an organism or cell. [29] [30] One of the challenges in defining death is in distinguishing it from life. Death would seem to refer to either the moment life ends, or when the state that follows life begins. [30]
Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death , or may result from factors such as diseases , localized injury , or the death of the organism of which the cells are part.