The brain is damaged beyond recovery. A brain dead person will never be able to think or feel again. It usually occurs when a person has suffered a severe head injury, brain hemorrhage or stroke, or any prolonged lack of oxygen to the brain. Organs are recovered only from people who have been declared brain dead. With this type of death, only tissues can be donated.
Tissue donation can occur in either brain death or cardiac death.
Death is determined by the person ' s response to a series of tests conducted by a physician. When someone is brain dead, it means there is no oxygen or blood flow to their brain and that their brain is no longer functioning in any capacity and never will again. It does not mean that all other organs, such as the heart, kidneys or liver, are no longer viable. Unless damaged by injury or disease, these organs may be used by another individual through transplantation. As long as the heart has oxygen, it continues to work.