death

The cessation of life; permanent cessations of all vital functions and signs. Numerous states have enacted statutory definitions of death which include brain-related criteria.

For example, many states have adopted, sometimes with variations, the Uniform Determination of Death Act definition: "An individual who has sustained either

(1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory function, or

(2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead.

A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards." See, e.g., Calif.Health & Safety Code, No. 7180.

See also Swafford v. State, Ind., 421 N.E.2d 596, 602.

See also contemplation of death

- presumption of death

- Simultaneous Death Act

- wrongful death action

- brain death

- civil death.

@ death benefits

Amount paid under insurance policy on death of insured. A payment made by an employer to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased employee on account of the death of the employee. A death benefit is also provided for under the Social Security Act

@ death by wrongful act

Statutory action arising from act to which law attaches liability as in the case of serving unwholesome food that results in death, the action for which may be brought by personal representative of deceased.

See also wrongful death statutes

@ death certificate

Official document issued by Register of Deaths or some other public official which certifies that a person has died. Generally such certificate specifies the cause of death, and is commonly required to be signed by the attending or an examining physician. Fed.Evid.R. 803(9) provides a hearsay exception for admissibility of death certificates

@ death duty

See death taxes

@ death penalty

Supreme penalty exacted as punishment for murder and other capital crimes. The death penalty has been held to not be, under all circumstances, cruel and unusual punishment within prohibitions of 8th and 14th Amends., U.S. Const., Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859; nor does the 6th Amendment require a jury trial on the sentencing issue of life or death, Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U.S. 447, 104 S.Ct. 3154, 82 L.Ed.2d 340

@ death records

Official records of deaths kept by town or city Register of Deaths or by some other public official with like functions.

See death certificate

@ death sentence

See death penalty

@ death taxes

Generic term to describe all taxes imposed on property or on transfer of property at death of owner. Includes estate and inheritance taxes.

See estate tax

- inheritance tax

@ instantaneous death

Term to describe death following accident within a very short time such as 15-20 minutes; such concept is important in death actions in which a claim is made for pain and suffering.

@

- natural death

@ Natural Death Acts

Such statutes (e.g. Cal. Health & Safety Code No. 7185 et seq.) authorize an adult to make a written directive instructing his physician to withhold life-sustaining procedures in the event of a terminal condition. In the directive, which is to be executed in a prescribed manner and made a part of the patient's medical records, the declarant directs that if he has been certified by two physicians as being afflicted with a terminal condition, he is to be permitted to die naturally.

The Act removes all civil or criminal liability from physicians who act in accordance with its provisions. It has been held that unwritten right of privacy is broad enough to include patient's decision to decline medical treatment in certain circumstances. Matter of Quinlan, 70 N.J. 10, 355 A.2d 647, 663.

See also brain death

- will (living will).

- right to die laws

@ presumptive death

That which is presumed from proof of a long continued absence unheard from and unexplained. The general rule, as provided by state statutes, is that the presumption of the duration of life ceases at the expiration of seven years from the time when the person was last known to be living; and after the lapse of that period there is a presumption of death.

@ death action

See wrongful death action

@ Death Knell Doctrine

Doctrine which allows immediate appeal from interlocutory order where delay of review until final judgment will cause irreparable loss of substantial rights and where order has practical effect of permanently foreclosing relief on claim. Moshe Myerowitz, D.C., P.A. v. Howard, Me., 507 A.2d 578, 580

@ Death on High Seas Act

Federal Act which provides for a pecuniary recovery for death "caused by wrongful act, neglect or default occurring on the high seas beyond a marine league from the shore of any state [territory or dependency]." 41 U.S.C.A. No. 761 et seq. Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham, 98 S.Ct. 2010, 56 L.Ed.2d 581

@ deathsman

The executioner; hangman; person that executes capital punishment

@ death's part

See dead man's part

@ death trap

A structure or situation involving imminent risk of death or a place apparently safe but actually very dangerous to life. Benson v. Missouri, K. & T. R. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 200 S.W.2d 233, 240

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