But if their heart stops beating BEFORE they die, and is (for example) restarted (or taken out and a transplant put in) then cardiac arrest isn't always a cause of death. So to say that heart stops beating = death, and vice versa, is not a valid point, since either can come first without needing the other (I'm dead as a dodo if you crushed my head in a steam press, but my heart might conceivably still beat for a few seconds). Or to be more serious (and less, The Fly) hearts go on beating after people are "dead" enough to be organ harvested. Or in the US, dehydrated/starved to death (Terri Whatsername). So, cardiac arrest surely can be a discrete cause of death if it - erm, causes, death - and death can happen before cardiac arrest?