Naomi and Carla Are First-Year Medical Students

question 56

Multiple Choice

Naomi and Carla are first-year medical students. They are currently learning about the brain and its functions. Naomi is of the opinion that the cortical death definition should be adopted as the criterion for death. However, Carla disagrees with her. Which of the following statements best explains why Carla disagrees with Naomi?

• A) The cortical function areas of the brain monitor the heartbeat and respiration. If the cortical death definition were adopted, then physicians could declare a person dead as soon as the heartbeat and respiration stop.
• B) The functions one associates with being human, such as intelligence and personality, are located in the lower brain stem areas. Physicians believe that when these functions are lost, the "human being" is no longer alive.
• C) If the cortical death definition were adopted, then physicians could declare that a person is dead when there is no cortical functioning in that person, even though the lower brain stem is functioning.
• D) Individuals whose higher brain areas have died will not be able to breathe and have a heartbeat.

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Definitions:

Pascal's Triangle

A triangular array of numbers where each number is the sum of the two numbers directly above it, often used in probability theory and algebra.

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To expand an algebraic expression means to simplify the expression by distributing multiplication over addition or subtraction and combining like terms.

Binomial Theorem

A principle in algebra that describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial.

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To express a mathematical expression in an extended form by removing parentheses or factoring, usually by applying the distributive property.