Not everyone needing an organ transplant is as lucky as this man. But most religions, including Buddhism, now believe the decision to donate organs and body tissue after death is a matter of individual choice. There are two ways of defining death. One is brain death, meaning the brain has stopped working and will never recover. This is different to coma, which is when someone is unconscious because of brain injury, but the brain still works and may heal eventually.
Tests can detect if the brain has stopped functioning.
The other definition is when the heart has stopped forever. The priority of doctors caring for critically ill patients is to save lives, not provide organs for transplants. These doctors are independent of transplant teams. The law says doctors who diagnose brain death are not allowed to be the same doctors who do transplant surgery or who care for people waiting for transplant surgery. Surgery is done with the same care as any other surgical procedure.