See? I always thought that when people are "brain dead" they can still hear us. I had a very, very, very close family member in this condition for a few days and I talked to him and the first time I went to see him, he had a tear in his eye. I want to think he knew we were there with him and he heard us talk to him before he died.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Four months after he was declared brain dead and doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant, Zach Dunlap says he feels "pretty good."
Dunlap was pronounced dead Nov. 19 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident. His family approved having his organs harvested.
As family members were paying their last respects, he moved his foot and hand. He reacted to a pocketknife scraped across his foot and to pressure applied under a fingernail. After 48 days in the hospital, he was allowed to return home, where he continues to work on his recovery. Dunlap (the patient) said one thing he does remember is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead.