Determining Brain Death: AAN Calls for New Guidelines
In a new position paper published in Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) defines death by neurologic criteria – commonly known as brain death – as the individual’s death due to irreversible loss of function of the entire brain in accordance with the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) a model state law that was approved for the U.S. in 1981. In the position paper the AAN proposed uniform brain death laws, policies and practices. In a comment to MedPage Today, lead author James Russell, DO, MS, of Lahey Hospital said the statement has three goals. “First, it provides AAN, American Neurological Association, and Child [...]