brain death

My father is 62 years of age, and on the 23rd of december he suffered a massive heart attack and loss of oxygen to his brain for quite some time while waiting on an ambulance to arrive, no CPR was administered and in result, he inhaled his own vomit and now has ecoli in his lungs.The paramedics had to bring him back to life with "the paddles" twice. As far as i know all the appropiate tests have been conducted and pronounced braindead and has been on life support for 6 days now. When taken off of the ventilator, his body began to shutdown.His wife now wants to move him to a different hospital and have the tests rerun. Is this really necessary or is it just prolonging the inevitable? I would also like to know if movement in his feet and legs when touched, are signs of hope or if it is just reflexes. Is there any hope of recovery or is it time to let go?

[ggreg]

First, let his wife do whatever she wants to, because in the end she has to live with the idea that she "pulled the plug."  It is only natural to second-guess and not accept a situation, particularly when she has had no time to come to terms with such a sudden loss of function in a perfectly good husband the day before all this.  

I think if your grandfather is now off the life support and his body is of course shutting down, he will likely die before the week is out.  Docs have a set criteria to go by on making that call, plus they consult with each other on the matter, and also it is not something they take lightly since it is so very hard for them to accept they failed to keep him alive, and on top of that have to deliver that kind of news to the wife.

Sure, there is STILL a remote chance that if your father goes to another hospital or, better yet, an expert doc comes in as a consult for his wife, they might have a different view on the situation than his current hospital physicians do, and may have a better equipped hospital for this sort of thing, and he might pull through.  So, no real harm done by an ambulance taking him elsewhere (under no circumstances should his wife drive him, obviously), or another hospital's expert coming over and acting as consult to his wife.  

The feet and legs are only doing an automatic reflex thing when touched.  After all, the body is still working, its autonomic system is still working; it's just the person as we know them is no longer with us.  This muscle flexing, I have read of people who work in funeral homes, where a person is most definitely deceased, but they'll have this jolt of muscle spasm and actually sit up a little bit or move an arm quickly, which is scary, so that's why I remember the story.  But do not listen to me on this particular issue of his movement... you must speak directly to the physician in charge of his care that question, and you can also talk to yet another physician not connected with the hospital the same question, perhaps ask him to go over there, you could offer to do it for his wife, perhaps.  

But despite all this, once in a while, so too will a person actually wake up, in perfect shape, in the morgue!  So, I think let his wife do her thing, could be he WILL come out of this, however damaged his lungs and brain may be.  But I think your impressions are correct, that your grandfather is gone, and his wife is kind of panic-driven with a fearsome inability to accept reality, and it's a little gruesome to be dragging all this out.  

But hope springs eternal and miracles DO still happen.  But she should not wind up going too far and putting him back on a ventilator, and perhaps having to nurse him as a completely nonresponsive invalid for a number of years.  That's just too sad and not realistic.  When the brain flat-lines, the ventilator is turned off, and the body begins to shut down, even tho a reflex may be encouraging, if she'll just wait it out a couple more days and say her goodbyes, his body will leave, too.  But do speak to the attending physician and maybe another expert for a second opinion, on the reflex thing.