Machines that keep people breathing and blood flowing despite them not having the ability to on their own makes this complicated. Is a person dead if they cannot breathe or their heart is not beating unassisted? Or is “death” when not even the finest machinery can keep oxygen and blood flowing? Or is death defined by lack of brain function? And, if so, what constitutes the minimal amount of brain function to be considered alive? The line between life and death is no longer clearly drawn in the sand. For me personally, I think the definition of death is situational. If I am an elderly woman and one day I stop breathing and my heart stops, then I accept that as my death. If I am twenty-five and healthy and my heart stops in the middle of the grocery store, then I do not accept the cessation of heartbeat as my death. In defining death, I think it is more about the