Back in January, in the hospital, my heart stopped for 8 seconds. I was asleep, I had no idea. I woke up and was fiddling on my phone, nurse comes in:
"Were you asleep about an hour ago?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Your heart stopped for 8 seconds."
"Um... thank you? I don't know how to respond to that..."
I have a heart monitor connected to my phone now, continuously monitoring. It's stopped a few more times since then, 4 seconds here, 5 seconds there. Doc says not to worry about it, no cause for a pacemaker yet.
Tbf, while your heart stopped, you brain didn't. If your brain had totally stopped then you wouldn't be here. Not saying anyone's right or wrong, just pointing out that a stopped heart doesn't mean that you're fully dead....
I have observed that, with enough money, doctors can fix just about any problem you have, except for a dead brain. Can't breathe? We'll breathe for you. Can't digest your food? We'll do that for you. Heart won't beat? We even have machines for that. However, if I'm not mistaken, doctors can't restart a brain after it's stopped. That's the one thing that can't be fixed.
That said, if your heart has stopped then you're basically one foot in the grave and will probably die without immediate medical attention (unless you're like the guy I was replying to, where your heart occasionally just takes a break for a moment). As such, it would be apt to describe you as mostly dead. You're not beyond saving, but that's where you're headed.
That description reminded me of Miracle Max's diagnosis of "mostly dead" and so I threw in the gif.