In California, the process of donation takes place only after two physicians declare you brain dead, using strict neurological examinations. Your family must then consent to donation. Brain death occurs in patients who have suffered severe injury to the brain, such as a motor vehicle accident, a gunshot wound to the head, or blow to the head. As a result of the injury, the brain swells and obstructs its own blood supply, causing brain tissue to die, and cessation of brain function. This condition is irreversible.
Brain death is an established medical and legal diagnosis of death.
Without oxygen, the organs would die, and not be viable for transplant. To meet this need, the law states that any hospital that receives government funding is required to give families the option of donation. Since all brain activity has stopped, and the central nervous system has ceased to function, it is physically impossible to feel pain. They believe that this is essentially a gift of life to another person. Meanwhile, the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam believe that organ donation is a matter of individual conscience.