Trust the Internet or Trust Your Physician: Public Perception of Brain Death Isn’t a No Brainer

[摘要] The determination of death and provision of organ donation in children requires compassionate and precise communication regarding death definitions, formation of shared expectations between providers and families, and careful facilitation of sensitive end-of-life decision-making. Determination and declaration of death affords families a distinct cognitive and emotional transition from the acute care of their critically ill child to one of bereavement for the deceased. Determination of circulatory or neurologic death using currently accepted medical criteria provides a legal foundation for pronouncing death and clarifies potential concerns over inheritance, taxes, criminal trial, organ donation, and appropriateness of maintaining artificial support for a patient declared dead by neurologic criteria.

[学科分类] 呼吸医学