Christina Strong

The Uniform Determination of Death Act, (“UDDA”) which is currently the law in most states holds that in order to be determined deceased an individual must present irreversible cession of cardiorespiratory function or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. However, inconsistencies identified between the clinical protocols to declare brain death and the legal wording has led to discussions suggesting that action should be taken to revise and clarify the legal standard of death determination. Given that most deceased donations result from patients declared dead by neurologic criteria, this ongoing deliberation is important to the donation and transplantation community, and other constituents in the continuum of care, including patients. For this discussion, we will be joined by Christina Strong, JD. and Brendan Parent, JD who will provide further information about the proposals being made to help us better understand the rationale behind these changes from the legal and ethical perspective.