Diagnosing brain death without a neurologist.

Holger Baumgartner & Franz Gerstenbrand, Diagnosing Brain Death Without a Neurologist, 324 BRIT. MED. J. 1471 (2002).

Modern medicine has given us tools as never before to oppose death. Some bodies whose brains presented with all the criteria of brain death have been kept alive for years. The challenges resulting from medical progress need to be addressed by all of society What physicians need is a clear legal framework to be able to deal with difficult and often extremely conflicting clinical decisions consistently Modern doctors need all the help they can get.

The neurological diagnosis of brain death is now widely accepted, but only its proper application will ensure that it remains so. Diagnostic criteria vary and some, like apnea testing, are contested. Therefore, neurological experts have to be involved in making the diagnosis whenever they are available. In many regions...