Brain death: medical and legal issues.

Irreversible cessation of brain function has become a widely accepted criterion of death. Case law, state statutes, and medical opinion, backed by clinical studies, all support the use of brain death criteria as a means of determining death. Current state statutes are in need of some uniformity, as 12 different statutory approaches to brain death are currently in use. Brain death should not be confused with the still unresolved issue of termination of life support to terminally ill, mentally incompetent patients, or those who are comatose yet do not meet brain death criteria.