The determination and pronouncement of when a person has died has medical, ethical, and legal implications. Laws vary from state to state, and death is usually defined in a state’s statutes.

Definitions and terminology may vary from state to state but generally a person is dead when, according to ordinary standards of medical practice, there is irreversible cessation of the person's spontaneous respiratory and circulatory functions. If artificial means of support preclude a determination that a person's spontaneous respiratory and circulatory functions have ceased, the person is dead when, in the announced opinion of a physician, according to ordinary standards of medical practice, there is irreversible cessation of all spontaneous brain function.

Death occurs when the relevant functions cease. But a formal pronouncement of death is not a legal determination of the cause, manner, or time of death.

In West Virginia, the determination of death is guided by state statutes that align with the medical understanding of death. The state follows the general principle that a person is considered legally dead when there is an irreversible cessation of spontaneous respiratory and circulatory functions, or, in cases where artificial life support is involved, an irreversible cessation of all brain functions, as determined by a physician according to ordinary medical standards. This definition is consistent with the Uniform Determination of Death Act, which has been adopted in some form by most states, including West Virginia. The formal pronouncement of death by a physician is a medical judgment regarding the cessation of life functions and does not establish the legal cause, manner, or exact time of death. These latter determinations are typically made through a death investigation, often involving a coroner or medical examiner, depending on the jurisdiction within the state.