system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why does a person die when their neck is snapped?

Is the brain unable to tell the heart to continue beating, so the brain dies of oxygen deprivation?  If so, would this mean that a person who is hanged appears dead immediately but actually remains alive and alert for another minute or two?

Or am I way off?
gpt
>Is the brain unable to tell the heart to continue beating, so the brain dies of oxygen deprivation?

Nope.  The heart is so cool it has its own nervous system (impulses originating in a structure called the S.A. node) that keeps it beating regardless of all else but oxygen supply to the heart.  Death from a broken neck is generally caused by severing of the phrenic nerve which controls the diaphragm muscle which facilitates breathing.

>If so, would this mean that a person who is hanged appears dead immediately but actually remains alive and alert for another minute or two?

Hanging (and some other forms of neck breaking) also puts pressure on the carotid arteries (blood vessels which supply blood to the brain) which causes unconsciousness in seconds and death in minutes.  That is long/standard drop hanging though and there are some forms (short drop) which are designed to just cut off air supply to the lungs at the trachea (or just severe the phrenic nerve) resulting in strangulation which involves 10min or so of consciousness.

When a good guy breaks a bad guy's neck in a movie they would indeed lie there unable to move or breath for several minutes unless the breakage caused the bone or swelling to interfere with blood flow to the brain or pain caused them to pass out.