Brain Death — Too Flawed to Endure,Too Ingrained to Abandon

Capron A. M. , “Brain Death – Well Settled Yet Still Unresolved,” New England Journal of Medicine 344, no. 16 (2001): 1244–6.

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004); American Journal of Bioethics 3, no. 1 (2003).

President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Defining Death: A Report on the Medical, Legal, and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1981); “Guidelines for the Determination of Death,” JAMA 246, no. 19 (1981): 2184–6.

Wijdicks E. F. M. , “Brain Death Worldwide: Accepted Fact but No Global Consensus in Diagnostic Criteria,” Neurology 58, no. 1 (2002): 20–5

Wijdicks E. F. M. , “The Diagnosis of Brain Death,” New England Journal of Medicine 344, no. 16 (2001): 1215–21.

Willing R. , “Woman Is Kept Alive to Save Unborn Baby,” USA Today, June 16, 2005; Willing R. , “Brain-Dead Woman Dies After Baby Born,” USA Today, August 4, 2005.

Id., (June 16, 2005).

See Willing (August 4, 2005), supra note 6.

King L. , “Interview with Jason, Justin Torres,” Larry King Live, CNN, June 30, 2005.

Youngner S. J. Landefeld C. S. Coulton C. J. Juknialis B. W. Leary M. , “‘Brain Death’ and Organ Retrieval: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Knowledge and Concepts among Health Professionals,” JAMA 261, no. 15 (1989): 2205–10.

Wikler D. Weisbard A. J. , “Appropriate Confusion over ‘Brain Death,’” JAMA 261, no. 15 (1989): 2246.

Truog R. D. Fackler J. C. , “Rethinking Brain Death,” Critical Care Medicine 20, no. 12 (1992): 1705–13; Truog R. D. , “Is It Time to Abandon Brain Death?” Hastings Center Report 27, no. 1 (1997): 29–37; Truog R. D. , “Organ Transplantation without Brain Death,” Annals of the New York Academy of Science 913, no. 1 (2000): 229–39; Truog R. D. Robinson W. M. , “Role of Brain Death and the Dead-Donor Rule in the Ethics of Organ Transplantation,” Critical Care Medicine 31 (2003): 2391–6.

Id., ( Truog Robinson ).

Crowley-Matoka M. Arnold R. M. , “The Dead Donor Rule: How Much Does the Public Care…And How Much Should We Care?” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004): 319–332.

Green M. B. Wikler D. , “Brain Death and Personal Identity,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 9 (1980): 105–33; Veatch R. M. , “The Whole-Brain-Oriented Concept of Death: An Outmoded Philosophical Formulation,” Journal of Thanatology 3, no. 1 (1975): 13–30; Veatch R. M. , “The Impending Collapse of the Whole-Brain Definition of Death,” Hastings Center Report 23, no. 4 (1993): 18–24; Youngner S. J. Bartlett E. T. , “Human Death and High Technology: The Failure of the Whole-Brain Formulations,” Annals of Internal Medicine 99, no. 2 (1983): 252–8.

Multi-Society Task Force on PVS, “Medical Aspects of the Persistent Vegetative State (First of Two Parts),” New England Journal of Medicine 330, no. 21 (1994): 1499–508; Multi-Society Task Force on PVS, “Medical Aspects of the Persistent Vegetative State (Second of Two Parts),” New England Journal of Medicine 330, no. 22 (1994): 1572–9.

See Truog (1997), supra note 12.

I have covered only an overview of the arguments here; please see my earlier work, cited supra note 12, for a more thorough review of the problems with the concept of brain death.

“A Definition of Irreversible Coma, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death,” JAMA 205, no. 6 (1968): 337–40.

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Truog R. D. , “Medical Futility in Intensive Care,” ICU Management 1 (2005): 12–4; Fine R. L. Mayo T. W. , “Resolution of Futility by Due Process: Early Experience with the Texas Advance Directives,” Annals of Internal Medicine 138, no. 9 (2002): 743–6; Halevy A. Brody B. A. , “Medical Futility in End-of-Life Care,” JAMA 282, no. 14 (1999): 1331.

Young P. J. Matta B. F. , “Anaesthesia for Organ Donation in the Brainstem Dead – Why Bother?” Anaesthesia 55, no. 2 (2000): 105–6; Dalgleish D. , Letter, “Brain Stem Death: Healthcare Workers have Difficulty Accepting Current Management,” British Medical Journal 321, no. 7261 (2000): 635; Keep P. J. , Letter, “Anaesthesia for Organ Donation in the Brainstem Dead,” Anaesthesia 55, no. 6 (2000): 590; Poulton B. Garfield M. , Letter, “The Implications of Anaesthetising the Brainstem Dead,” Anaesthesia 55, no. 7 (2000): 695.

Olick R. S. , “Brain Death, Religious Freedom, and Public Policy: New Jersey's Landmark Legislative Initiative,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 1, no. 4 (1991): 275–88.

Associated Press, “Organ Donations Barred by Judge: Vital Organs of Doomed Girl Can't Be Given to Others, a Florida Judge Rules,” New York Times, March 28, 1992.

Schmidt T. C. , “The Ohio Study in Light of National Data and Clinical Experience,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004): 235–40, at 236–7.

Id., at 238.

Veatch R. M. , “The Dead Donor Rule: True by Definition,” American Journal of Bioethics 3 (2003): 10–1; Veatch R. M. , “Abandon the Dead Donor Rule or Change the Definition of Death?” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004): 261–76.

See Truog Robinson , supra note 12.

See Veatch (2004), supra note 28, at 268.

Id., at 267.

Id., at 268.

See Veatch (2003), supra note 28, at 11.

See Veatch (2004), supra note 28, at 273.

See Truog Robinson , supra note 12.

Parker I. , “The Gift: Zell Kravinsky Gave Away Millions. But Somehow It Wasn't Enough,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2004, at 54–63.

Abecassis M. Adams M. Adams P. Arnold R. M. Atkins C. R. Barr M. L. Bennett W. M. Bia M. Briscoe D. M. Burdick J. Corry R. J. Davis J. Delmonico F. L. Gaston R. S. Harmon W. Jacobs C. L. Kahn J. Leichtman A. Miller C. Moss D. Newmann J. M. Rosen L. S. Siminoff L. Spital A. Starnes V. A. , “Consensus Statement on the Live Organ Donor,” JAMA 284, no. 22 (2000): 2919–26.

See Prendergast Luce , supra note 20.

See Truog Robinson , supra note 12; Potts M. Evans D. W. , “Does It Matter That Organ Donors Are Not Dead? Ethical and Policy Implications,” Journal of Medical Ethics 31, no. 7 (2005): 406–9.

Ebbert S. Mullin R. , “Police Pursuit Claims a Life,” Boston Globe, December 14, 1999.

Krieger L. M. , “A Life-and-Death Proposal,” New York Times, June 5, 1996.

I responded to the article at note 42 with a letter explaining the facts of brain death, but there were no responses to the issue of doctors taking organs from living patients: Truog R. D. , Letter to the Editor, “Let Organ-Donor Family Make Dignified Choice, Not Before Death,” New York Times, June 8, 1996.

“Not Quite Dead,” 60 Minutes, CBS, April 13, 1997.

DeVita M. A. Webb S. A. Hurford W. E. Truog R. D. Wlody G. S. Hayden C. T. Sprung C. L. Brilli R. J. Beals D. A. Rothenberg D. M. Friedman A. L. Silverstein D. S. Kaufman D. C. Perkin R. M. Rosenbaum S. H. Cist A. F. M. Samotowka M. Teres D. Unkle D. W. Burns J. P. , T. E. Wallace, and the Ethics Committee of the American College of Critical Care Medicine, “Recommendations for Nonheartbeating Organ Donation,” Critical Care Medicine 29, no. 9 (2001): 1826–31.

Fost N. , “Reconsidering the Dead Donor Rule: Is It Important That Organ Donors Be Dead?” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004): 249–60.

Siminoff L. A. Burant C. Youngner S. J. , “Death and Organ Procurement: Public Beliefs and Attitudes,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14, no. 3 (2004): 217–34.

See Veatch (2003), supra note 28, at 10.

Gianelli D. M. , “AMA Organ Donor Opinion Sparks Ethics Debate,” American Medical News (Chicago), July 25, 1994.

Gianelli D. M. , “Ethics Council Reverses Stand on Anencephalic Organ Donors,” American Medical News (Chicago), December 25, 1995.

Charo R. A. , “Realbioethik,” Hastings Center Report 35, no. 4 (2005): 13–14, at 14.

Deschamps J. Y. Roux F. A. Sai P. Gouin E. , “History of Xenotransplantation,” Xenotransplantation 12, no. 2 (2005): 91–109.