[Clinical and legal aspects of brain death criteria: evaluation of the degree of knowledge of neurologists and neurosurgeons].

The level of knowledge of clinical and legal aspects of brain death criteria was tested in 25 neurologists and 15 neurosurgeons. The answers were wrong or the questionnaire had not been responded in 36.9% of the cases. The highest percentage of mistakes concerned the apnea test and what Chilean law said regarding brain death. No differences were found between neurologists and neurosurgeons. Physicians with less than 10 years were better informed than those with more than 10 years of medical practice (p < 0.005). Although brain death as a criterion of death is accepted by Chilean law in order to donate organs for transplantation, a considerable percentage of physicians (30%) rejected this concept. The significant lack of knowledge found in this study may suggest that brain death diagnosis is being inadequately performed in many cases. This fact raises important medical, ethical and legal considerations.