Professor Jim Egan:

Our business is very much a process. The death of the brain is defined very clearly according to clinical circumstances. The doctors do specific tests to see if the brain is functioning. They can use additional testing such as CT scans, imaging of the brain and so on to ascertain whether it has functional capacity for the future. That is brain death. It is an uncommon event but might happen if a person fell off a ladder and banged their head. The more common definition of death is when the heart stops. The general public has a greater appreciation of that mode of death. It is only after those events, if I understand the Deputy's question correctly, after the definition of brain death and after the heart stops that the donation process would commence.