No, Nrdsb4, my question was serious. When a person has gone into cardiac arrest, after two hours of no blood supply to the brain, if one does not have a DNR on file, the physicians will still keep working to restart the heart? Of course they would try right away, but how long would the physicians normally keep going? I assume that Jahi’s heart did not restart by itself, while the physicians were not working to restart it?
If it is generally known that two hours of no blood supply to the brain will render one completely, unavoidably brain dead, why would the physicians keep going? Was this the family’s call? This is a serious question also, and not obtuse.
I am aware that in cases where people have slipped into ice-cold lakes, they may be brought back, and that one should not declare someone dead until the person is “warm and dead.” But absent that situation, are there any known cases where someone has come back after two hours of no blood supply to the brain?
What is the length limit of lack of heartbeat (non-cold cases) where one can expect to come back more or less normal? Also, can Advance Directives (or whatever they are properly called) specify how resuscitation attempts should continue?