A critique on the concept of "brain death"

Issues in Law and Medicine

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 127-140

  Karakatsanis, K G ^a   Tsanakas, J N ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BLOOD FLOW; BRAIN; BRAIN DEATH; DEATH AND EUTHANASIA; DOPPLER ECHOGRAPHY; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY; EVOKED AUDITORY RESPONSE; EVOKED SOMATOSENSORY RESPONSE; HUMAN; PATHOPHYSIOLOGY; PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE; PHILOSOPHY; REVIEW; UNCONSCIOUSNESS; VASCULARIZATION;

DEATH AND EUTHANASIA;

BRAIN; BRAIN DEATH; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY; EVOKED POTENTIALS, AUDITORY; EVOKED POTENTIALS, SOMATOSENSORY; HOLISTIC HEALTH; HUMANS; PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE; REGIONAL BLOOD FLOW; ULTRASONOGRAPHY, DOPPLER, TRANSCRANIAL; UNCONSCIOUSNESS;

EID: 0036716704     PISSN: 87568160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (187)

1. See C. Pallis, Brainstem Death: The Evolution of a Concept, 2(2) SEMINAR IN THORACIC & CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY 135, 137 (1990);
2. D.A. Shewmon, Recovery From Brain Death: A Neurologist's Apologia, LINACRE Q., Feb. 1997, at 30, 31, 75.
3. See A Definition of Irreversible Coma: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death, 205 JAMA 337, 337 (1968).
4. See id.
5. See Guidelines for the Determination of Death: Report of the Medical Consultants on the Diagnosis of Death to the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 246 JAMA 2184, 2184-86 (1981) (hereinafter "Guidelines").
6. See A. Mohandas & S. N. Chou, Brain Death: A Clinical and Pathological Study, 35 J. NEUROSURGERY 211, 211-12 (1971);
7. Pallis, supra note 1, at 135;
8. C. Pallis, ABC of Brain Stem Death, 285 BRIT. MED. J. 1487, 1487-90 (1982).
9. See E.F.M. Wijdicks, Brain Death Worldwide, 58 NEUROLOGY 20, 21 (2002).
10. See A.E. Walker & G.F. Molinari, Criteria of Cerebral Death: A Critique, in THE NINCDS COLLABORATIVE STUDY OF BRAIN DEATH, NINCDS MONOGRAPH No. 24 181, 182-83 (NIH publication No. 81-2286, Bethesda, Md., Dec. 1980).
11. See R. Truog & W.M. Robinson, The Diagnosis of Brain Death, Letter to the Editor, 345 NEW ENG. J. MED. 616, 616-18 (2001).
12. See P.J. Keep, Anaesthesia for Organ Donation in the Brainstem Dead, Letter to the Editor, 55 ANAESTHESIA 590, 590 (2000).
13. J. Wace & M. Kai, Anaesthesia for Organ Donation in the Brainstem Dead, Letter to the Editor, 55 ANAESTHESIA 590, 590 (2000).
14. See J.C. Fackler et al., Age Specific Characteristics of Brain Death in Children, 142 AM. J. DIS. CHILD 999, 999-1003 (1988);
15. D.H. Fiser et al., Diabetes Insipidus in Children with Brain Death, 15 CRITICAL CARE MED. 551, 551-52 (1987);
16. A. Halevy & B. Brody, Brain Death: Reconciling Definitions, Criteria and Tests, 119 ANNALS INTERNAL MED. 519, 519-21 (1993);
17. G.M. Hall et al., Hypothalamic-Pituitary Function in the "Brain-Dead" Patient, LANCET, Dec. 6, 1980, at 1259, 1259;
18. H. Schrader et al., Changes of Pituitary Hormones in Brain Death, 52 ACTA NEUROCHIR. 239, 239 (1980);
19. R.D. Truog & J.C. Fackler, Rethinking Brain Death, 20 CRITICAL CARE MED. 1705, 1705-06 (1992);
20. R.D. Truog, Is it Time to Abandon Brain Death? HASTINGS CENTER REP., Jan.-Feb. 1997, at 29, 29-30.
21. See R.D. Truog & J.C. Fackler, supra note 11, at 1705, 1707.
22. See id.
23. See Schrader et al., supra note 11, at 240-41.
24. See D.A. Shewmon, "Brainstem Death," "Brain Death" and Death: A Critical Re-evaluation of the Purported Equivalence, 14 ISSUES IN LAW & MED. 125, 135 (1998).
25. See E.F.M. Wijdicks et al., Letter to the Editor, 53 NEUROLOGY 1369, 1369-70 (1999).
26. See E.F.M. Wijdicks, Determining Brain Death in Adults, 45 NEUROLOGY 1003, 1007 (1995).
27. E.F.M. Wijdicks, The Diagnosis of Brain Death, Letter to the Editor, 345 NEW ENG. J. MED. 616, 617 (2001).
28. See E. Rodin et al., Brainstem Death, 60 CLINICAL ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY 63, 65-68 (1985);
29. M.M. Grigg et al., Electroencephalographic Activity After Brain Death, 44 ARCHIVES NEUROLOGY 948, 948-50 (1987).
30. Grigg et al., supra note 19, at 950, 953;
31. A. Paolin et al., Reliability in Diagnosis of Brain Death, 21 INTERNAL CARE MED. 657, 660-61 (1995);
32. F. Plum, Clinical Standards and Technological Confirmatory Tests in Diagnosing Brain Death, in THE DEFINITION OF DEATH, CONTEMPORARY CONTROVERCIES 34, 42-44 (S.J. Youngner et al., eds., 1999);
33. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1708.
34. See Grigg et al., supra note 19, at 948.
35. See id. at 949-50.
36. See Plum, supra note 20.
37. See E. Facco et al., 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT in the Diagnosis of Brain Death, 24 INTENSIVE CARE MED. 911, 913 (1998);
38. R.W. Kurtec et al., Tc-99m Hexamethylpropylene Amine Oxime Scintigraphy in the Diagnosis of Brain Death and Its Implications for the Harvesting of Organs Used for Transplantation, 25 CLINICAL NUCLEAR MED. 7, 7 (2000);
39. M.D. Medlock et al., Dissociation of Cerebral Blood Flow, Glucose Metabolism and Electrical Activity in Pediatric Brain Death, 79 J. NEUROSURGERY 752, 752 (1993);
40. L. Mrhac et al., Brain Death: The Evolution of Semiquantitative Parameters and Other Signs in HMPAO Scintigraphy, 16 NUCLEAR MED. COMM. (U.K.) 1016, 1019 (1995);
41. R.H. Reid et al., Clinical Use of Tc99m-HMPAO for Determination of Brain Death, 30 J. NUCLEAR MED. 1621, 1621-26 (1989);
42. H-P Schlake et al., Determination of Cerebral Perfusion by Means of Planar Scintigraphy and 99mTc-HMPAO in Brain Death, Persistent Vegetative State and Severe Coma, 18 INTENSIVE CARE MED. 76, 78 (1992);
43. N.C. Singh et al., Usefulness of Tc99m-HMPAO Scan in Supporting Clinical Brain Death in Children: Uncoupling Flow and Function, 5 CLINICAL INTENSIVE CARE 71, 72 (1994);
44. M. Spieth et al., Importance of Lateral View in the Evaluation of Suspected Brain Death, 20 CLINICAL NUCLEAR MED. 965, 965-68 (1995);
45. H. Wieler et al., Tc99m-HMPAO Scintigraphy: A Reliable Noninvasive Method for Determination of Brain Death, 18 CLINICAL NUCLEAR MED. 104, 104-06 (1993).
46. See Facco et al., supra note 24;
47. Kurtec et al., supra note 24;
48. Medlock et al., supra note 24;
49. Mrhac et al., supra note 24, at 1019;
50. Reid et al., supra note 24;
51. Schlake et al., supra note 24;
52. Singh et al., supra note 24;
53. Spieth et al., supra note 24;
54. Wieler et al., supra note 24.
55. See Facco et al., supra note 24.
56. See id., at 913, 916.
57. Truog, supra note 11, at 30.
58. See Keep, supra note 9.
59. E.F.M. Wijdicks, Clinical Diagnosis and Confirmatory Testing of Brain Death in Adults, in BRAIN DEATH 66 (E.F.M. Wijdicks, ed., 2001).
60. N. Allen et al., Clinical Criteria of Brain Death, in THE NINCDS COLLABORATIVE STUDY OF BRAIN DEATH, NINCDS MONOGRAPH No. 24 77, 99 (NIH Publication No. 81-2286) (Bethesda, Md. Dec. 1980).
61. See Plum, supra note 20, at 51.
62. Wigdicks, supra note 30, at 73.
63. Id. at 74.
64. A.H. Ropper, Unusual Spontaneous Movements in Brain Dead Patients, 34 NEUROLOGY 1089, 1090 (1984).
65. Plum, supra note 20, at 52.
66. See L. Heytens et al., Lazarus Sign and Extensor Posturing in Brain-Dead Patient, 71 J. NEUROSURGERY 449, 450 (1989).
67. See G. Saposnik et al., Spontaneous and Reflex Movements in Brain Death, 54 NEUROLOGY 221, 222 (2000).
68. See S. Mandel et al., Spinal Automatism in Cerebral Death, Letter to the Editor, 307 NEW ENG. J. MED. 501, 501 (1982).
69. See Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death, supra note 2, at 337, 338.
70. See Allen, supra note 31, at 97.
71. See Saposnik, supra note 38, at 222, 223.
72. See G. Marti-Fabregas et al., Decerebrate-Like Posturing With Mechanical Ventilation in Brain Death, 54 NEUROLOGY 224, 224 (2000).
73. Id. at 225-26.
74. See Wijdicks, supra note 17, at 1009.
75. See E.F.M. Wijdicks, Current Concepts: The Diagnosis of Brain Death, 344 NEW ENG. J. MED. 1216, 1216-21 (2001).
76. See Wijdicks, supra note 17, at 1004.
77. See R.J. Brilli & D. Bigos, Apnea Threshold and Pediatric Brain Death, Letter to the Editor, 28 CRITICAL CARE MED. 1257, 1257 (2000).
78. See R. Vardis & M.M. Pollack, Increased Apnea Threshold in a Pediatric Patient With Suspected Brain Death, 26 CRITICAL CARE MED. 1917, 1919 (1998).
79. See Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death, supra note 2, at 337.
80. See Mohandas & Chou, supra note 5, at 212.
81. See J.C.M. Brust, Coma, in MERRITT'S TEXTBOOK OF NEUROLOGY 26 (9th ed. 1995);
82. Wijdicks, supra note 17, at 1003, 1007.
83. See A. Barelli et al., Do Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials Detect the Actual Cessation of Cerebral Functions in Brain Dead Patients? 18 CRITICAL CARE MED. 322, 322-23 (1990).
84. See M.H. Kohrman & B.S. Spivac, Brain Death in Infants: Sensitivity and Specificity of Current Criteria, 6 PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY 47, 47 (1990).
85. See B.J. Anziska & R.Q. Cracco, Short Latency Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Brain Dead Patients, 37 ARCHIVES NEUROLOGY 222, 222 (1980).
86. Barelli et al., supra note 53, at 323.
87. F. Facco et al., Role of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in the Diagnosis of Brain Death, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 135, 138 (C. Machado, ed., Amsterdam, Elsevier 1995).
88. See E. Facco et al., supra note 24, at 912;
89. G.A. van Norman, A Matter of Life and Death, 91(1) ANESTHESIOLOGY 275, 279 (1999).
90. See Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1706;
91. Grigg et al., supra note 19, at 948;
92. Paolin et al., supra note 20, at 659;
93. Plum, supra note 20, at 42-43.
94. See D. Silverman et al., Cerebral Death and the Electroencephalogram: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee, 209 JAMA 1505, 1505 (1969).
95. See S. Ashwal & S. Schneider, Brain Death in the Newborn, 84 PEDIATRICS 429, 434 (1989).
96. See id.;
97. J.J. Volpe, Brain Death Determination in the Newborn, 80 PEDIATRICS 293, 295 (1987).
98. See Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1708.
99. See Grigg et al., supra note 19, at 948.
100. Plum, supra note 20, at 44.
101. See Silverman et al., supra note 60, at 1510.
102. See S. Ashwal, Brain Death Determination in Infants and Children, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 204 (C. Machado, ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam 1995);
103. Guidelines, supra note 4, at 2186;
104. L.H. Monsein, The Imaging of Brain Death, 23 ANAESTHESIA INTENSIVE CARE 44, 44 (1995).
105. See M.S. George, Establishing Brain Death: The Potential Role of Nuclear Medicine in the Search for a Reliable Confirmatory Test, 18 EUR. J. NUCLEAR MED. 75, 76 (1991);
106. K. O'CONNOR, THE MAYO CLINIC MANUAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE 115, 115 (1996);
107. Plum, supra note 20, at 48;
108. H. Wieler et al., supra note 24, at 105-06.
109. See Monsein, supra note 67, at 47.
110. See W.M. Flowers, Jr. & B.R. Patel, Persistence of Cerebral Blood Flow After Brain Death, 93(4) S. MED. J. I 364-70 (2000).
111. See R. Schroder, Later Changes in Brain Death: Signs of Partial Recirculation, 62 ACTA NEUROPATHOLOLGY (Berl.) 15, 15 (1983).
112. See Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1709.
113. See Plum, supra note 20, at 44.
114. See Grigg et al., supra note 19, at 953;
115. Paolin et al., supra note 20, at 660-61;
116. Plum, supra note 20, at 44;
117. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1708.
118. See Schrader et al., supra note 11, at 246;
119. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1708.
120. See R.A.C. HUGHER, NEUROLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 126 (B.M.J. Pub. Group, 1997);
121. G.F. MOLINARI, NINCDS COLLABORATIVE STUDY OF BRAIN DEATH: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, NINCDS MONOGRAPH No. 24 1, 19 (NIH Pub. No. 81-2286, Dec. 1980);
122. Walker & Molinari, supra note 7, at 191.
123. See Guidelines, surpa note 4, at 2184, 2186;
124. P. Hantson et al., Multimodality Evoked Potentials as a Valuable Technique for Brain Death Diagnosis in Poisoned Patients, 29 TRANSPLANT PROC. 3345-46 (1997);
125. W. Wagner, Scalp, Earlobe and Nasopharyngeal Recordings of the Median Nerve Somatosensory Evoked P14 Potential in Coma and Brain Death, 119 BRAIN 1507, 1519 (1996).
126. See J.M. Guerit et al., Multimodality Evoked Potentials in the Differential Diagnosis of Brain Death, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 119, 119, 121 (C. Machado, ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995);
127. J.W. Hall et al., Auditory Brainstem Response in Determination of Brain Death, 111 ARCHIVES OTOLARYNGOLOGY 613, 613, 618 (1985);
128. Hantson et al., supra note 77, at 3345;
129. P. Hantson et al., The Problem of "Brain Death" and Organ Donation in Poisoned Patients, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 127, 131;
130. J. Paniagua-Sotto et al., Neurophysiologic Criteria from Coma to Brain Death, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 103, 103-110.
131. See Determination of Brain Death: From the Ad Hoc Committee on Brain Death, The Children's Hospital, Boston, 110 J. PEDIATRICS 15, 18 (1987).
132. See Pallis, supra note 1, at 141.
133. See E. Facco et al., Serial Recordings of Auditory Brainstem Responses in Several Head Injury: Relationship Between Timing and Prognostic Power, 14 INTENSIVE CARE MED. 422, 422 (1988);
134. Garcia-Larrea et al., Brain-stem Monitoring II: Preterminal BAEP Changes Observed Until Brain Death in Deeply Comatose Patients, 68 ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY & CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY 446, 456 (1987);
135. W. Goldie et al., Brainstem Auditory and Short-latency Somatosensory Evoked Responses in Brain Death, 31 NEUROLOGY 248, 255 (1981).
136. See W. Wagner, SEP Testing in Deeply Comatose and Brain Dead Patients: The Role of Nasopharyngeal Scalp and Earlobe Derivations in Recording P14 Potential, 80 ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY & CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY 352, 361 (1991).
137. Id., at 352.
138. C.D. Yingling et al., P300 as a Predictor of Recovery From Coma, 336 LANCET 873 (1990).
139. See P.S. Gott et al., P300 Auditory Event-related Potentials in Non-traumatic Coma: Association with Glasgow Coma Score and Awakening, 48 ARCHIVES NEUROLOGY 1267, 1267 (1991).
140. See Hall et al., supra note 78, at 616.
141. See Barelli et al., supra note 53, at 323.
142. See Kohrman & Spivac, supra note 54, at 47.
143. See Anzisca & Cracco, supra note 55, at 222.
144. See Plum, supra note 20, at 44.
145. See Facco et al., supra note 57, at 138.
146. See M. Hadani et al., Application of Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography for the Diagnosis of Brain Death, 25 INTENSIVE CARE MED. 822, 822-28 (1999);
147. Plum, supra note 20, at 44;
148. Wijdicks, supra note 17, at 1008.
149. See Plum, supra note 20, at 49;
150. Wijdicks, supra note 17, at 1008.
151. See Wijdicks, supra note 30, at 80.
152. See Nan Chang Chiu et al., Reversal of Diastolic Cerebral Blood Flow in Infants Without Brain Death, 11 PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY 337, 337 (1994).
153. See Wijdicks, supra note 30, at 82.
154. See MOLINARI, supra note 76, at 25.
155. Id. at 13.
156. See id.at 16.
157. See Guidelines, supra note 4, at 2184;
158. Pallis, supra note 5, at 1487;
159. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death, supra note 2, at 337.
160. See F. PLUM & J.B. POSNER, THE DIAGNOSIS OF STUPOR AND COMA 3 (3rd ed. 1987).
161. See C. Machado et al., Four Years After the First International Symposium on Brain Death in Havana: Could a Definitive Conceptual Re-approach Be Expected? in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 1, 8 (C. Machado, ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995).
162. See E.R. KANDEL & J.H. SCHWARTZ, PRINCIPLES OF NEURAL SCIENCE 496 (Edwar Arnold Pub., London, 3rd ed., 1983);
163. Pallis, supra note 5, at 1489.
164. See J.T. Giacino, Disorders of Consciousness: Differential Diagnosis and Neuropathologic Features, 17(2) SEMINARS NEUROLOGY 105, 107 (1997);
165. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1705, 1709;
166. R.M. Veatch, Brain Death and Slippery Slopes, 3 J. CLINICAL ETHICS 181, 181 (1992);
167. S.J. Youngner & E.T. Bartlett, Human Death and High Technology: The Failure of the Whole-Brain Formulations, 99 ANNALS INTERNAL MED. 252, 253, 256 (1983).
168. See PLUM & POSNER, supra note 101, at 4;
169. A.H. Ropper & J.B. Martin, Coma and Other Disorders of Consciousness, in HARRISON'S PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE 193, 193 (J.D. Wilson et al., eds., 12th ed. 1991).
170. See W.F.M. Arts et al., Unexpected Improvement After Prolonged Post-traumatic Vegetative State, 48 J. NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY & PSYCHIATRY 1300, 1300-01 (1985);
171. N.L. Childs & W.N. Mercer, Brief Report: Late Improvement in Consciousness After Post-traumatic Vegetative State, 334 NEW ENG. J. MED. 24, 24 (1996);
172. E.W.D. Young, Life and Death in the ICU: Ethical Considerations, in CRITICAL CARE 63, 74 (J.M. Civetta et al., eds., 3rd ed. 1997).
173. See K. Andrews et al., Misdiagnosis of the Vegetative State: Retrospective Study in a Rehabilitation Unit, 313 BRIT. MED. J. 13, 13 (1996).
174. See M. Siegrist, Inner Speech as a Cognitive Process Mediating Self-consciousness and Inhibiting Self-deception, 76 PSYCHOL. REP. 259, 259, 264 (1995).
175. Pallis, supra note 1, at 135.
176. See O.D. Garcia, Whole Brain? Higher Brain? A New Formulation of Death, in 9 BRAIN DEATH: DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROLOGY 31, 31 (C. Machado, ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995);
177. Halevy & Brody, supra note 11, at 522;
178. Machado et al., supra note 102, at 8;
179. Shewmon, supra note 1, at 44;
180. Shewmon, supra note 15, at 132-33;
181. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1707.
182. See Giacino, supra note 104, at 105, 107;
183. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1709;
184. Veatch, supra note 104, at 181;
185. Younger & Bartlett, supra note 104, at 253, 256.
186. See Shewmon, supra note 1, at 40, 42;
187. Truog & Fackler, supra note 11, at 1705-07.