Excerpt from Brain Death in Children

Synonyms, Key Words, and Related Terms: brain death in infants, determination of brain death, cerebral death, determination of cerebral death, confirmation of brain death, medical and legal aspects of brain death, absent cerebral function, absent brainstem functions

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"It despairs and swoons, and thereupon it lies quite still as if it were dead, like the childish play of ‘lying dead'..."

Sickness unto Death, Søren Kierkegaard (1849).

The medical and legal aspects of determining brain death have evolved over the past 3 decades. The need for special criteria for determination of brain death in infants and children was clear as early as 1967, when the first US committee met to form a consensus opinion. The pediatric CNS may be more resilient to certain forms of injury. This should be considered when interpreting diagnosis and confirming brain death in infants and children.

The evidence considered consistent with brain death in infants and children from 1967 to the present is reviewed in this chapter. Guidelines are discussed, and the role of (and controversy surrounding) confirmatory testing is examined.

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