Japan the land of Lazarus

[canman]

This will do wonders for the travel agencies trying to get older folks to visit the US and Canada.
"Japanese declared 'brain dead' in U.S., Canada make recovery in Japan"
The article is in the Mainichi newspaper here is the link, but it seems a little fishy to me.
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060726p2a00m0na016000c.html

[dimwit]

I smell bullshit. Place, Hospital, Patient? Story seems a teensy bit vague on those points.

Brain death by most definitions means the ceasation of brain activity, so a stroke victim who could breathe on his own is extremely unlikely to be considered as such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_death

[james]

personally, i've met many people and seen even more on the news in politics who are not only breathing on their own but also talking. and quite frankly, after hearing them speak, it's a wonder they haven't been declared brain dead.

[Captain Japan]

The transportation costs (not medical) came to 20 million? That is 7 million each, or roughly a cool 60,000 dollars.

I really think there is a lot missing from this story.

[kurohinge1]

personally, i've met many people and seen even more on the news in politics who are not only breathing on their own but also talking. and quite frankly, after hearing them speak, it's a wonder they haven't been declared brain dead.

That reminded me of this reported exchange, under cross-examination in a Courtroom:

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure? A: No. Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?
A: It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.

*boom - tish*

[Socratesabroad]

I really think there is a lot missing from this story.

Most definitely.

Criteria for brain death clearly exclude someone "able to breathe by himself without being attached to an artificial ventilator."

In the US

The three cardinal findings in brain death: coma or unresponsiveness, absence of brain stem reflexes, and apnea.

[url=http://www.aic.cuhk.edu.hk/web8/brain_death_and_care_of_organ_do.htm
]And in the UK[/url]

Brain death criteria

* comatose patient unable to breathe spontaneously
* cause of coma irreversible and untreatable ie potentially reversible
* Persistence of effect of neuromuscular blocking agents should be excluded by eliciting deep tendon reflexes or with the use of a nerve stimulator.
* all brainstem reflexes absent

Plus, look at the original Japanese - none of the three were actually or officially declared brain dead:

日]

What's worse, the claimant is apparently an insurance rep - 損保の担当者 - who says US and Canadian insurance staff were with the families when told by doctors that their loved ones were brain dead.

主治医は家族や損保の現地スタッフに「脳死」と説明した。うち３人の家族は「治療中止は納得できない」などと訴え、チャーター機で帰国。日本で治療を受け、意識が回復した。

Even better, I can't find any matches of 日本渡航医学会, the Japan Soc. Travel Med where these cases were supposedly reported, and "脳死."

The whole thing is sounding more and more like pure and utter bullshit.