Being monosyllabic, its use in “aviationese” is a matter of economy of expression and not a political statement or invitation for handwringing. It also sidesteps potential fussy categorization along the lines of, “We have two crew and one passenger.”
In comparison with the above nine syllables, the relevant information requires two: “Tree souls.”
"A plane went down with 150 passengers, all 156 souls aboard were lost."
I guess "soul" is the universal term for "living human", regardless of their job, role, lot in life, etc.
In many states (not sure how it applies to a plane in air), doctors are certainly not the only people to determine or legally declare death.
In my state EMTs and Paramedics can call death legally in many (relatively obvious) circumstances:
- rigor mortis
- livor mortis
- decapitation
- incineration
- decomposition
- body position incompatible with life
- evisceration of brain or heart
In those settings, while most would also include the attendance of a medical examiner or coroner, a physician does not have to "pronounce death".
Similarly, in resuscitation scenarios, we can discuss with a physician ECG rhythm/s found, length of resuscitation, circumstance, interventions attempted, and the physician can delegate to us the ability to discontinue resuscitation and call the time of death at that point.
This is the first time I've ever heard/read this phrase. What is an example of a "body position incompatible with life"?
Folding the head at the neck, too far in any given direction ruins the spinal cord, with out breaking the skin. If you see a person slumped in such a way that their head has clearly been badly twisted, and flops over, they are most assuredly dead.
This puts us right into breathing airway, if the neck is not supporting the trachea, or indeed folding the trachea shut, it's often apparent from a glance. But folding at the waste is just as bad for the diaphragm. When someone looks like they've been put in a stress position, and demonstrates no distress, it's likely they've expired.
In any event, instinctually, you can look at a person, know how hard it would be for you to hold a crumpled pody position, note the time while while remaining attentive for labored, heavy breathing, and if even 60 seconds pass, they might be dead.
Breathing and airway are primary obvious signs, but limbs sprawling and draped at odd angles can intuitively indicate that internal bleeding would be required for such a pose to be achieved.
There are only about 15 points of articulation on the human body, discounting fingers and toes, if you reduce the spine to the head and neck. Most people aren't escape artists or contortionists, even if they do yoga. And even contortionists, by at least some amount, exert themselves to achieve impressive poses, or fit themselves inside duffel bags and such.
Just surf the internet for pictures of dead bodies, and you'll quickly spot the ones that have mostly impossible body positions. [nsfw]
[nsfw] https://www.albawaba.com/sites/default/files/im/lebanon/Syri...
You want all of that to add up to some total.
[0]: https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/advisory_circular/...