A 54-year-old female is admitted to the intensive care unit…
A 54-year-old female is admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with a subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a left middle cerebral artery aneurysm rupture. Early external ventricular drain was placed because of a poor neurological examination. Over the course of 7 days, there have been ongoing issues with refractory elevated intracranial pressure and poor neurologic examination, progressing to no cranial nerve responses. Her examination is as follows: pupils 5 mm and nonreactive, absent oculocephalic reflexes, absent corneal reflexes, absence of facial grimace, absent gag, and absent cough. The only evoked motor response is minimal triple flexion in the bilateral legs. An apnea test was completed and there were no spontaneous respirations with an increase in pCO2 20 mm Hg more than baseline. Which of the following is MOST true?