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Legal death is the recognition under the law of a particular jurisdiction that a person is no longer alive. [1] In most cases, a doctor's declaration of death (variously called) or the identification of a corpse is a legal requirement for such recognition.
The Uniform Determination of Death Act has been enacted in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jurisdiction with enactment The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) is a model state law that was approved for the United States in 1981 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, in cooperation with the American Medical Association, the ...
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]
If a person disappeared under life-threatening circumstances, the day of his or her actual disappearance may also be considered the legal date of death. The declaration of death by the court has the same legal consequences as if the fact of death was proven: Dependants of the person become eligible for the state pension; Assets can be inherited
Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinction is made between the cause of death, which is a specific disease or injury, versus manner of death, which is primarily a legal determination, versus the mechanism of death (also called the mode of death), which does not explain why the person died or the underlying cause of death and ...
According to Black's Law Dictionary justifiable homicide applies to the blameless killing of a person, such as in self-defense. [1]The term "legal intervention" is a classification incorporated into the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding a death caused by law enforcement. [2]
Today, where a definition of the moment of death is required, doctors and coroners usually turn to "brain death" or "biological death" to define a person as being dead; [26] people are considered dead when the electrical activity in their brain ceases. [27] It is presumed that an end of electrical activity indicates the end of consciousness. [28]
In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of the conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. In rare cases, an autopsy needs to be performed by a pathologist.