[1] In most cases, a doctor's declaration of death (variously called) or the identification of a corpse is a legal requirement for such recognition.
A person who has been missing for a sufficiently long period of time (typically at least several years) may be presumed or declared legally dead, usually by a court.
In the latter case, irreversible is understood to mean that heartbeat and breathing cannot return on their own and will not be restored by medical intervention.
If a clinically dead person has suffered injuries so severe that resuscitation is obviously impossible, then in some jurisdictions first responders may make a legal determination of cardiopulmonary death.
There are three general categories where people may be falsely declared dead: by mistake, because of fraud, or as punishment for a crime.
One study estimated that every year, the U.S. Social Security Administration declares 12,200 alive citizens as dead.
His wife had a court declare him dead in 2016, after having no contact with him since July 1999, shortly before a major earthquake in Turkey.
[18] In 2016, Frenchwoman Jeanne Pouchain was erroneously declared dead by a French court of appeal hearing an employment dispute.
For instance, in India, several people have been falsely and fraudulently declared dead by family members wishing to steal land and other property.
Whether a victim of fraud or an honest error, it often takes many years to reverse a fraudulent death declaration, and at times it never happens.
Governments elect a coroner or appoint a medical examiner, depending on jurisdiction, to both determine manner and cause of death, and if necessary, identify bodies when their identities are unknown.
Manner of death is usually classified as natural, accidental, homicide, suicide, pending or undetermined.
There are a few controversies surrounding the topic of legal death among health professionals and the general public.
[26][27] Deciding on which criteria to follow for determining brain death is still heavily debated today.