Lewis Ariane, Pope Thaddeus Mason
Division of Neurocritical Care, Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, 530 First Avenue HCC-5A, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, 55105, USA.
Neurocrit Care. 2017 Jun;26(3):446-449. doi: 10.1007/s12028-017-0375-x.
Three recent lawsuits that address declaration of brain death (BD) garnered significant media attention and threaten to limit physician power to declare BD.
We discuss these cases and their consequences including: the right to refuse an apnea test, accepted medical standards for declaration of BD, and the irreversibility of BD.
These cases warrant discussion because they threaten to: limit physicians' power to determine death; incite families to seek injunctions to continue organ support after BD; and force hospitals to dispense valuable resources to dead patients in lieu of patients with reparable illnesses or injuries.
Physicians, philosophers, religious officials, ethicists, and lawyers must work together to address these issues and educate both the public and medical community about BD.
最近三起涉及脑死亡（BD）判定的诉讼引起了媒体的广泛关注，并有可能限制医生判定脑死亡的权力。
我们讨论了这些案例及其后果，包括：拒绝进行呼吸暂停试验的权利、脑死亡判定所接受的医学标准以及脑死亡的不可逆性。
这些案例值得探讨，因为它们有可能：限制医生判定死亡的权力；煽动家属寻求禁令以在脑死亡后继续进行器官支持；并迫使医院将宝贵资源用于已故患者，而不是用于患有可治愈疾病或损伤的患者。
医生、哲学家、宗教官员、伦理学家和律师必须共同努力解决这些问题，并向公众和医学界普及脑死亡知识。
