Deciding whether to withdraw life support after a severe traumatic brain injury is extremely difficult.
Analysis of 1,392 patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) found that some patients for whom life support was withdrawn may have survived and recovered some level of independence a few months .
Within 72 hours of a patient being admitted with a severe traumatic brain injury, doctors often ask family members to make a difficult choice about whether to continue life support.
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old woman from Georgia who had been declared brain-dead in February 2025, spent 16 weeks on life support while doctors worked to keep her body functioning well enough to .