A more thorough explanation:
Definition: The ending of life; the cessation of all vital functions and signs. It can occur in different ways:
- Accidental death: A death that results from an unusual event, one that was not voluntary, intended, expected, or foreseeable.
- Brain death: The bodily condition of showing no response to external stimuli, no spontaneous movements, no breathing, no reflexes, and a flat reading (usually for a full day) on a machine that measures the brain's electrical activity.
- Compensable death: A death that, because it occurred in the course of employment, entitles the employee's heirs to compensation.
- Death by one's own hand: Also known as suicide, it is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
- Instantaneous death: Death occurring in an instant or within an extremely short time after an injury or seizure.
- Presumptive death: Death inferred from proof of the person's long, unexplained absence, usually after seven years.
- Simultaneous death: The death of two or more persons in the same mishap, under circumstances that make it impossible to determine who died first.
- Violent death: Death accelerated by human intervention and resulting from a sharp blow, explosion, gunfire, or the like.
The examples illustrate the different ways in which immediate death can occur. Accidental death can happen due to unforeseen events, while brain death is a medical condition that can occur after a severe injury. Compensable death is related to work, while death by one's own hand is a deliberate act. Instantaneous death happens suddenly, while presumptive death is inferred from a person's absence. Simultaneous death is when multiple people die at the same time, and violent death is caused by human intervention.