No. If they're truly "brain dead" with the whole "dolls'eye" thing going for them, there is typically no perfusion going on whatsoever.

Brain-dead means the person is gone. I've never seen a brain-dead patient respond when someone speaks to them.

JonZ, you'd probably be better off looking for research on whether comatose patients respond to family vs. "brain dead." Comatose (non-drug induced I'm referring to) folks typically have cerebral perfusion to some extent. I usually encourage family to talk to these patients. It's sometimes therapeutic for the families if they think they're comforting their loved one.

As soon as we declare a pt brain dead on our unit we stop all charting, recording of vitals etc unless the pt is becoming an organ donor. We don't speak to them because it can send mixed messages to the family who has a hard time accepting brain dead is dead dead. If they're comatose or really sedated though I try to speak to the patient and let them know when I'm going to suction them, shine the flashlight in their eyes etc...it just seems more "human".