In 1968 an ad hoc committee of Harvard Medical School recommendedthat death be defined as cessation of all brain function1. Beforethat time, a patient was not pronounced dead until heart andlung function had ceased. One by one, the states accepted braindeath as the legal definition of death -- a movement that wasaccelerated when the President's Commission formulated the UniformDetermination of Death Act in 19812. All 50 states and the Districtof Columbia now accept this standard3. It is remarkable howrapidly the concept of brain death attracted an ethical, social,and . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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