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It’s absolutely true that some people declared brain dead can still hear what’s going on around them, but are unable to speak or sign that they are alive. Zack Dunlap was declared brain dead, but survived, and later told Dr. Paul Byrne that he was listening as doctors told his parents that he was “dead” and could now become an organ donor: “The next thing I remember was laying in the hospital bed, not being able to move, breathe — couldn’t do anything, on a ventilator. I heard someone say, ‘I’m sorry, he’s brain dead, he’s passing away.’ And there’s nothing I could do, just get mad. I couldn’t do anything — to sign — at all…I tried to scream, tried to move, just got extremely angry.” Thankfully, Zack managed to move forcefully enough that his organ harvesting was called off. He recovered, got married, has a daughter, and works a job. Dead people don’t get better. Brain death is not death.