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Debate simmers over when doctors should declare brain death
National Public Radio
Feb 11, 2024
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." While that may still be true, there's a controversy simmering today about one of the ways doctors declare people to be dead. The debate is focused on the Uniform Determination of Death Act, a law that was adopted by most states in the 1980s. The law says that death can be declared if someone has experienced "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain." But some parts of the brain can continue to function in people who have been declared brain dead, prompting calls to revise the statute.
Matthew Decamp, MD, PhD, co-authored a recent position paper for the American College of Physicians, with the intent of fostering honesty, transparency, respect, and integrity in how death is determined and communicated to patients and families. Physicians can ensure trust by communicating determinations of death that are consistent with medical ethics, the law, and the best available scientific evidence.
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