Discuss the concept of brain death and the use of the pupil reflex in testing for brain death.

whole brain death is brain stem and cerebrum;

failure of pupil to respond to light indicates brain stem death;

without brain stem function, life cannot continue;

cerebrum involves higher order brain function;

non-functioning cerebrum with functioning brain stem is vegetative state;

some would argue this is the death of the person;

though brain stem function alone may be able to maintain homeostasis;

This was by far the most poorly answered question in the paper.

Although many candidates could describe the pupil reflex, the details of brain death, the role played by the brain stem and the cerebrum were not known. The application of the pupil reflex to establish whole brain death, brain stem damage or cerebrum damage was not known. No candidate gained over two marks here and only very general answers were seen.