
How to tell if you’re brain dead
The Irish health system is struggling to deal with the massive increase in people suffering from brain-deadness, with a record number of people in hospitals and nursing homes suffering from symptoms of the disease.
In recent weeks, there have been more than 60,000 cases of brain-disease sufferers in the Republic, with more than 8,000 deaths.
The latest statistics show there are now more than 30,000 patients in the emergency department of hospitals and other health care facilities across the country.
People suffering from the condition are now referred to hospitals and health care professionals as brain dead, which means they have no consciousness and cannot communicate.
There is a wide spectrum of symptoms including coma, coma, paralysis, death, and paralysis due to cerebral palsy, a condition which causes the brain to collapse.
The Irish Government’s Health Services Executive (HSE) is set to announce plans to set up a national database for people with symptoms of brain dead.
This is a step forward, said the head of the Irish Medical Association, Dr John Fennelly, but there is still much work to be done.
“The HSE needs to make sure the data that they collect is accurate,” he said.
“We need to have a national standardised database.
It would be helpful if it could be done within a year, if not within three years.”
The Irish Department of Health is currently working on a new national standard, which would be in line with the WHO standard.
The Department of Justice has also been working on the issue, as well as the Department of Social Protection, Health Protection and Equality.
However, the government has been criticised by the Irish Association of Medical Directors (IAMD) for failing to tackle the issue properly.
“It’s not an issue that is being discussed or debated within the medical profession in Ireland,” Dr Fennell said.
The IAMD has called for a review of the system, saying there is an urgent need for new guidelines to be introduced.
The Hse Department of the Department for Health has said it will consider a request from the Irish Government for information from the public about the issue.
However it also admitted that the information gathered so far has not been sufficient.
“There are no official figures on brain-death cases, but we know that over 100 people are in the ICU every day.
That’s a number that is growing,” Dr Niamh Farrell, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of Limerick, told the Irish Times.”
That is a very, very worrying figure.”
She added that the data collected so far “isn’t accurate and is not indicative of what is actually going on.”
Professor Farrell said it was important that people in Ireland know what symptoms they are experiencing.
“If you have a seizure, for example, it’s a very common symptom,” she said.
“If you’re experiencing hallucinations, that’s another common symptom.”
Dr Farrell said there are a number of different symptoms that can lead to a brain dead patient.
“Some people may be suffering from Parkinson’s disease, some people may have dementia, some may have epilepsy, some have dementia with associated comorbidities.”
So, we know there is a spectrum of possible symptoms,” she added.
However she said there were also “very real concerns” about the lack of an accurate diagnosis.”
You might have a diagnosis of brain death if you have seizures and you are not in good enough condition to be taken to a hospital.
“What we need is for doctors to be able to see what is really going on and what is the likelihood of this happening, which we need to know,” she concluded.