How can someone be considered brain dead and has been taken off the ventilator still breath on their own?

After reading many articles pertaining to brain death, I am more confused than ever. Everything I read says that when a person is declared "Brain Dead" they are officialy dead and the only thing that makes them breath is the ventilator. However when the ventilator is removed they will "die." An individual that I know was declard brain dead 3 days ago and was on a ventilator for 6 days and taken off today. This person is still breathing with out the help of a ventilator. Are we having false hope about recovery?

I'm sorry, there is very little, if any, hope of recovery when a person is declared brain dead their higher level brain functions are completely absent. That means no thinking, no talking, no hearing, no sight, no awareness at all of stimuli like heat or cold or smells or tastes. The stem of the brain where autonomic life support functions reside is the toughest part of the brain and the last to shut down. Several days off a vent is possible, but there is very little hope of regaining consciousness or higher brain function. When people choose to become organ donors their organs must be harvested before the brain stem dies so that there is no deterioration of the organs being harvested.

As far as I know, a person who is brain dead does not have any more cognitive capabilities. Breathing is a very low level function of the brain (more like a reflex: you don't need to think about breathing, it's automatic). Cognitive capabilities (the capability to think, communicate, understand) are higher level functions of the brain. If the top layers of your brain stop functioning (for example because of a stroke or other accident), it is possible that the cognitive functions, which lie there and depend on very complex connections, stop functioning while functions like breathing and heartbeat, which lie in the lower areas of the brain and are much simpler, keep on working. I hope this helps.

Sounds like someone made a mistake!

never give up hope ever all things are possible, and there is a god.

Certain chemo receptors in the brain respond to carbon dioxcide, determining the rate of respiration. If these chemo receptors are not working, then respers are determine by hypoxia/hypoxemia (low oxygen in the blood). Hypoxia/hypoxemia will make a person breathe (hypoxic drive) in order for the body to try to get enough oxygen in the system to substain life. So, either the chemo receptor in the brain sensitive to CO2 is still functioning or the person has low oxygen in the system resulting in hypoxic drive.