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Harvard ethicist Robert Truog on ambiguities of brain death — Harvard Gazette

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Harvard ethicist Robert Truog discusses why brain death remains controversial 50 years after a Harvard Medical School panel’s landmark report on the condition. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer Alvin Powell Harvard Staff Writer In August 1968, a committee at Harvard Medical School published a landmark document titled “A Definition of Irreversible Coma.” In addition to the traditional way of defining death, in terms of the loss of cardiorespiratory function, the committee suggested a new definition of death — brain death — that focused on the loss of neurological function. The report provided a foundation for the eventual adoption of legislation that established brain death as legal death in all 50 states. The issue has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, due in large part to the case of Jahi McMath, whose brain death was contested by her family for nearly five years, during which time the California girl grew, developed, and even went through puberty. McMath died on

Harvard ethicist Robert Truog on ambiguities of brain death — Harvard Gazette In August 1968, a committee at Harvard Medical School published a landmark document titled “A Definition of Irreversible Coma.” In addition to the traditional way of defining death, in terms of the loss of cardiorespiratory function, the committee suggested a new definition of death — brain death — that focused on the loss of neurological function. The report provided a foundation for the eventual adoption of legislation that established brain death as legal death in all 50 states. The issue has come under incr

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