OVERVIEW

Concepts of 'Brain Death': Could the Medico-Legal Establishment Have Been Wrong for 55 years? is organized by Central Michigan University (CMU).

Start Date: October 26, 2023
End Date: October 26, 2026

Description:
The concept of "brain death" was introduced by the Harvard Medical School Ad Hoc Committee in 1968. This course outlines the historical development and current practice of “brain death” both in law and medicine. Case studies and pertinent scholarly literature are reviewed, with particular attention to areas of ongoing controversy.

The 2023 American Academy of Neurology Guidelines, the basis for a diagnosis of "brain death" in American hospitals, are inconsistently applied and only opinion-based. Moreover, they do not satisfy the legal requirements for a declaration of death according to the Uniform Determination of Death Act. This is a source of substantial ongoing controversy, with a proposed revision to the UDDA recently being evaluated by the Uniform Law Commission. Clinicians need to understand these issues to properly care for patients. This has both practice implications as well as ethical considerations.

Learning Objectives:

Identify the signs of death described in human beings.
Describe the medicolegal history of “brain death.”
Describe the basic components of a "brain death" diagnosis.
Identify areas of controversy which exist with and between the medical guidelines to diagnose "brain death" and laws pertaining to “brain death.”
Describe signs of life found in "chronically brain-dead" patients.