Death is an inherently complicated topic. Not surprisingly, social, religious and personal understandings of death can vary considerably.
Definitions range from spiritual to secular.
There may be disagreement about when the occurrence of death can be reliably determined and by what methods. Philosophically, we can understand why Nancy Cruzan's father believed that her personal life ended the night of her accident. Yet we may recoil at the suggestion that a successfully resuscitated but neurologically devastated individual whose vital functions are artificially supported should be delivered to the undertaker. The complexity of the subject and divergent understandings regarding death notwithstanding, the state has an interest in uniform criteria for death. It gives physicians a legally privileged status in diagnosing and pronouncing death.