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Is He Dead Yet?

Zach Dunlap's story, which took place in Oklahoma City, is a unifier.

No matter what side of the organ donor argument you are on, when you read Zach Dunlap's story you will probably take a step back—to contemplate.

Zach Dunlap, 21, was "more dead" than Terri Schiavo was before he woke up from his coma.

He was pronounced dead in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident. After seeing the results of a brain scan in which "there was no activity at all, no blood flow at all," his father, Doug, approved organ harvest from Zach's "lifeless body."

But as family members were paying their last respects, they wanted to check if he was really dead. He wasn't. Zach suddenly moved his foot and hand and reacted to a pocketknife scraped across his foot and to pressure applied under a fingernail.

Incredibly, though Dunlap said he has no recollection of the crash, he does remember one thing and that is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead.

"I'm glad I couldn't get up and do what I wanted to do," Zach said.

"Just makes me thankful, makes me thankful that they didn't give up."

This is quite a horrifying statement. How many other "brain dead" people heard doctors declare them dead? How many others were given a death sentence while lying helpless in a hospital bed?

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." I would say he should. Not just because he's alive and well, but more so for the message his story sends the rest of us.

The story of Zach Dunlap should make a lot of people feel good—all those who understand that while there is breath there is life.

No matter what side of the argument you are on – pulling the plug or not, donating organs or not – this story really has to make you think.

Perhaps when it comes to life and death decisions people are too quick to pull the trigger.

Certainly one thing we can learn from Zach Dunlap's "return to life": Not enough effort is made to watch cases like this and allow them to play themselves out before we pull the plug.


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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:
Posted: Sep 22, 2008
What a mircale.
I went to High School with Zach and we were good friends, we hung out a lot together with our group of friends on the weekend. I remember our friend Micah calling me to tell me that they pronounced him dead. I was about to buy a ticket home to the funeral when she called and said he's not dead. He is alive and improving! I really could not believe it. Zach Dunlap is truely a miracle.
Posted By Ashley, Tacoma, WA/USA

Posted: June 23, 2008
NDE
Having "died" on the operating table during surgery, to remove a lump possibly cancerous tissue, thirty years ago. I can testify that appearing dead doesn't mean a thing. They had tried unsuccessfully to recessitate my heart with the paddles shocking it. The part of me that I now consider "Myself", was hovering above the scene totally not attached to the woman lying on the table, cut open and with a team working hard to get ME back to life. After a trip through the cosmos and a visit wih those in my family who had died years earlier, I was returned to this life with a message for my earth father. The message of what I had seen and been told dispelled his "crisis of belief and loss of faith" he had been in...
When I arrived back in my earth body, there was a sheet over my face. Luckily a nurse heard my attempts at screaming for help, and came running back into the room to find me very much alive.
Posted By PauLa Doty Katz

Posted: June 11, 2008
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read the article and post your thoughts and response.

We should all be blessed with healthy and happy years.
Posted By Shea Hecht, Brooklyn, NY

Posted: May 21, 2008
redefine diagnosis of 'death'
there is an urgent need to redefine the diagnosis of death! it is of course a miracle in the case of Zach Dunlap. But the question is 'how many people have been buried alive having diagnosed them as brain dead?' the concept of death goes beyond the realm of science. when can we say a person is brain dead anyway. it has become imperative for neurologists and co to address this issue.
Posted By Bunmi Ogunrin, Benin, Nigeria

Posted: Apr 22, 2008
Response to H.Z.
Since you are in a state of dilemma as to why you should not be kept alive by machines indefinitely, and what does G-d want from your vegetative state, I can best reassure you that G-d has assigned a time for everything under the sun. Sometimes, G-d allows these experiences so someone in the family or those watching may come to terms with G-d and pray for the person's health. I personally believe that our lot of suffering is for our own good - a kind of purification on earth before we pass away and in addition to change others and bless them.
In addition our experiences might be an encouragement to others in similar situations.
Posted By Elizabeth
via chabadofbakersfield.com

Posted: Apr 18, 2008
pronounced dead
the only thing i have always liked about myself is that I was born Jewish. the person who i've given the power to pull the plug places no value on Judaism, other than a political veneer. However, I don't want to be kept in "living" state by machines indefinitely; there are others whose life and/or senses may be restored to them by the gift of parts of my essentially worthless body. This is too emotional , in my opinion, to be decided by any law derived by humans. If there is a God, what does God want? To leave the alphabaetic "o" out when writing the term G-d? I can't honestly say I understand this particular detail of custom. All I can do is reassign the power to "pull the plug" to someone who loves my life more that I do, because I honestly believe that God doesn't care what religion the person who has the power of life and death over me at any certain moment is Jewish, only that the person in question loves my live more that I do because I can's honelstly say i love my life: I cling to life only out of fear of the unkown. If you honestly believe you can tell me what to do, right or wrong, do so personaly, I will not judge you.
Posted By H.Z., San Antonio, Texas. USA

Posted: Apr 9, 2008
This story is not the first like it. Premature diagnosis have been happening for a very long time. You would think that by know something would be done. Wisdom says; these days get a second or third opinion.
Posted By Israel Maudsley

Posted: Apr 7, 2008
We have limitations
I hope most coma patients are given the opportunity to stay alive longer, because people who have had coma due to aneuyerism have come out after six months.

I don't believe that doctors like to pronounce people dead rightaway. They have certain protocols within their organization to cut cost and allow other patients to be treated alike.

My suggestions are that it is wise to treat these patients in another country like India where it is cheaper rather than face the insurance fiasco, etc. Those doctors are trustworthy and with new technology they can communicate with U.S. doctors rightaway.
Final caution: most people talk about money and personal stuff in front of the coma patient thinking that he/she cannot hear. They do hear every word. It would be much appreciated if folks pray rather than lament.

Posted By Elizabeth
via chabadofbakersfield.com

Posted: Apr 7, 2008
Amen!
Posted By Anonymous

Posted: Apr 7, 2008
This article is misleading, sorry.
There is a clear difference between coma and brain death. It is clearly possible to diagnose brain death.

Whether or not you accept organ donation is a religious or ethical decision. Brain death and its diagnosis is not the issue.
Posted By Dr. Peter M. Winter, Vienna, Austria


 



By Shea Hecht   More by this authors...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rabbi Shea Hecht is chairman of NCFJE (National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education), the trailblazing social services and outreach organization directed by his late father, the famed Rabbi J. J. Hecht. Rabbi Shea Hecht is also a communal leader and activist in the Crown Heights Jewish community.

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