"(On brain death) The irreversibility of the loss of brain functions, ascertained by a ‘flat encephalogram’, does not prove the death of the individual. The total loss of the unity of the organism, understood as the ability to integrate and coordinate all its functions, does not in fact depend on the brain, nor even on the heart. The ascertainment of the cessation of breathing and heartbeat does not mean that the heart or lungs are the source of life. If legal and medical tradition, not only in the West, has always considered that death should be ascertained through the cessation of cardiovascular activity, it is because experience shows that the cessation of such activity is followed, after a few hours, by rigor mortis and then the beginning of the disintegration of the body. This does not happen in any way after the cessation of brain activity. Today, science allows women with flat encephalograms to carry their pregnancies to term and give birth to healthy babies. An individual in a state of “irreversible coma” can be kept alive with the support of artificial means; a corpse can never be revived, even if connected to sophisticated equipment."