EOL Webcast Linkfest (2 of 2)

This webcast of A Family's Request for Complementary Medicine after Brain Death is from the very rich collection at NIH. Arthur Applbaum (Harvard) presents ethics grand rounds on a case that had earlier been confronted at NIH: a family from Taiwan asked that their brain dead daughter be treated by Chinese traditional methods (rhinoceros horn).

The webcast is not brand new -- it's from April 4, 2007. But Applbaum's article on the case (draft available here) is now forthcoming in JAMA. The abstract states:

A 19-year-old woman who was admitted for elective cranial surgery for complications related to a congenital disorder developed an acute intracranial hemorrhage 10 days post-surgery. The patient was declared dead following repeat negative apnea tests. The patient’s father requested that the treating team administer an unverified traditional medicinal substance to the patient. Because of the unusual nature of this request, the treating team called an ethics consultation. The present article reviews this case and discusses other cases which share key features to determine whether and when it is appropriate to accommodate requests for interventions on patients who have been declared dead.