Article
Critical Care Medicine
Adam Rodman, Anthony C. Breu
Summary: This article tracks the evolution of the tripartite death examination and highlights the ad hoc nature of cardiopulmonary death determination despite advances in diagnostics and legislative attempts to standardize the definition of death.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Matthew Decamp, Kenneth Prager
Summary: The determination of a patient's death is of significant medical and ethical importance, and honesty, transparency, respect, and integrity are crucial for trust in the patient-physician relationship and the profession. This position paper addresses controversies, supports a clarification to the Uniform Determination of Death Act, and advocates for consistent standards and separate issues regarding the determination of death and organ transplantation. It emphasizes the importance of the dead donor rule and the need for educational efforts on these issues.
ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Critical Care Medicine
Ariane Lewis, Matthew P. Kirschen, Rafael Badenes
Summary: This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2023. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2023. Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from https://link.springer.com/bookseries/8901.
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Ariane Lewis
Summary: The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), the recommended legal statute for determination of death in the United States, is being updated by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) due to concerns raised by experts in various fields. The drafting committee is tasked with addressing key questions and proposing revisions to provide clarity and consistency in the distinction between life and death. Once finalized, individual states can choose to adopt the revisions.
NEUROCRITICAL CARE
(2022)
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Ibrahim Migdady, Moein Amin, Aaron Shoskes, Catherine Hassett, Alexander Rae-Grant, Sam B. Snider, David M. Greer, Sung-Min Cho, Pravin George
Summary: The study found that most brain death patients required ancillary studies for determination. Female patients and those with hypoxic brain injury were more likely to undergo ancillary studies. In recent years, the use of electroencephalograms for brain death determination has decreased.
CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Adam Omelianchuk, James Bernat, Art Caplan, David Greer, Christos Lazaridis, Ariane Lewis, Thaddeus Pope, Lainie Friedman Ross, David Magnus
Summary: The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) has been a model statute for 40 years, but there is a growing recognition that it needs to be updated, especially in terms of aligning the legal criteria for determining death with the medical standards. This article argues for revising the UDDA to specify neurorespiratory criteria, which include permanent loss of consciousness, ability to breathe spontaneously, and brainstem reflexes, as the criteria for determining death.
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Erin D. Paquette, Lainie F. Ross, Jairo Chavez, Joel E. Frader
Summary: This study aimed to inquire about and assess the reasons for refusals to allow examination for determination of death by neurologic criteria from the perspective of physicians. Refusals occur for various reasons and impact medical teams and families. Physicians seek more guidance in law and policies to manage such refusals.
PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Hardware & Architecture
Ramtin Moeini, Pedram Pishgah Hadiyan
Summary: In this research, two practical methods are proposed to determine reservoir operation rule curves considering uncertain future water inflow values. The methods involve historical data and predicted data using artificial neural networks. The results are compared using reliability, residency, vulnerability, and sustainability indexes, and the Pre-Inf3 method is found to outperform the other methods.
SUSTAINABLE COMPUTING-INFORMATICS & SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Simone Rossi, Gionathan Mazza, Massimiliano Del Testa, Alessandro Giannotta, Sabina Bartalini, Elisa Testani, Laura Savelli, Mario Gabbrielli, Giampaolo Vatti, Sabino Scolletta
Summary: This study aimed to verify the usefulness of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity recording in addition to clinical evaluations in determining brain death. The study analyzed data from all brain death determination cases in the past 10 years and found that repeating a 30-minute EEG twice over a 6-hour period did not provide additional useful information beyond the initial clinical evaluations.
NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Michael Nair-Collins
Summary: The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) declares that a person is considered dead if their entire brain, including the brainstem, has permanently ceased to function. Thus, as long as any part of the brain retains any function, the individual is not dead under the UDDA. This conclusion cannot be refuted by any argument or evidence, as it contradicts logic itself.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Panayiotis N. Varelas
Summary: The Uniform Determination of Death Act of 1980, the statute of death in the United States, states that death is defined as either irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. The determination of death must adhere to accepted medical standards.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Zhongyun Chen, Yingying Su, Gang Liu, Linlin Fan, Yan Zhang, Weibi Chen, Hong Ye, Huijing Huang
Summary: Apnea testing (AT) is a key step in brain death diagnosis in China, but completion rates are not ideal. This study analyzed completion rates of AT in potential BD patients from 2013 to 2019, finding lower rates in both adult and pediatric groups. Factors such as PaO2 and A-a gradient are crucial for successful completion of AT and should be optimized beforehand.
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Ibrahim Migdady, Moein Amin, Aaron Shoskes, Catherine Hassett, Sung-Min Cho, Pravin George, Alexander Rae-Grant
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the impact of setting an arterial pH target <7.30 during the apnea test (AT) for brain death determination. The results showed that implementing brain death criteria that require both arterial pH and PaCO2 thresholds can reduce the total number of positive ATs.
JOURNAL OF INTENSIVE CARE
(2021)
Article
Anesthesiology
Aimee Sarti, Stephanie Sutherland, Maureen Meade, Laura C. Hornby, Lindsay Wilson, Angele Landriault, Brandi Vanderspank-Wright, Sabira Valiani, Sean J. Keenan, Matthew Weiss, Kim Werestiuk, Stephen H. Beed, Andreas Kramer, Joann Kawchuk, Pierre Cardinal, Sonny Dhanani, Ken Lotherington, Giuseppe Pagliarello, Michael Chasse, Mary Gatien, Kim A. Parsons, Jennifer Chandler, Peter Nickerson, Same Shemie
Summary: This qualitative study explored family members' understanding of brain death and death determination in Canadian ICUs. Through in-depth interviews with 179 family members, six main themes were identified. The study highlights the importance of effective communication at key moments to help families understand and accept death determination.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ANESTHESIA-JOURNAL CANADIEN D ANESTHESIE
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Alessio Miatto, Paul Wolfram, Barbara K. Reck, Thomas E. Graedel
Summary: The research shows that the demand for lithium in the United States will continue to increase from 2020 to 2050, especially in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems. In contrast, the use of fossil fuels is relatively low. In the long run, the impact of COVID-19 on the demand for lithium is considered negligible.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
