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Signs of death or strong indications that a human is no longer alive are: Respiratory arrest (no breathing); Cardiac arrest (no pulse); Brain death (no neuronal activity); The heart and lungs are vital organs for human life due to their ability to properly oxygenate human blood (lungs) and distribute this blood to all vital organs (heart).
How humans understand and approach the process dying differs across cultures. [5] In some cultures, death is the complete termination of life. [5] In other cultures, death can include altered states of being, like sleep or illness. [5]
Physiological death is now seen as a process, more than an event: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. [81] Where in the process, a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs .
A fresh pig carcass. At this stage the remains are usually intact and free of insects. The corpse progresses through algor mortis (a reduction in body temperature until ambient temperature is reached), rigor mortis (the temporary stiffening of the limbs due to chemical changes in the muscles), and livor mortis (pooling of the blood on the side of the body that is closest to the ground).
Rigor mortis [a] (from Latin rigor 'stiffness' and mortis 'of death'), or postmortem rigidity, is the fourth stage of death. It is one of the recognizable signs of death, characterized by stiffening of the limbs of the corpse caused by chemical changes in the muscles postmortem (mainly calcium). [1] In humans, rigor mortis can occur as soon as ...
Livor mortis (from Latin līvor 'bluish color, bruise' and mortis 'of death'), postmortem lividity (from Latin post mortem 'after death' and lividitas 'black and blueness'), hypostasis (from Greek ὑπό (hypo) 'under, beneath' and στάσις (stasis) 'a standing') [1] [2] or suggillation, is the second stage of death and one of the signs of ...
Timeline of postmortem changes (stages of death), with putrefaction labeled near middle. The rough timeline of events during the putrefaction stage is as follows: 1–2 days: Pallor mortis, algor mortis, rigor mortis, and livor mortis are the first steps in the process of decomposition before the process of putrefaction.
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.