Nevada is close to being the first U.S. state to amend the Uniform Determination of Death Act to more clearly specify the medical standards by which cessation of brain function must be measured.The bill already passed the Assembly and is scheduled for a second Senate Health Committee hearing today, May 15.
One notable part of A.B. 424 is unique use of the term "organ-sustaining treatment." "Organ-sustaining treatment means a medical procedure or intervention that, after a person has been determined to be dead serves only to prolong the patient for survivability of a fetus or an anatomical gift.
While a patient might remain on mechanical ventilation after declaration of death, it would be wrong to describe that as "life-sustaining treatment," since there is no "life." In short, the same ICU medical intervention is best described as "LST" for a PVS patient but as "OST" after death.
"organ-sustaining treatment." is verbicide.
ReplyDeletewhat is the evidence that "since there is no "life"?
The Nevada Supreme Court required that evidence should be presented to prove that the American Academy Standard indeed measured "all brain functions" and IS compliant with the UDDA definition of death . Did legislators answer this question?
The content and language of the original Bill proposed by the Assembly was extensively revised with guidance of the Nevada Donor Network (NDN), the federally designated Organ Procurement, and authors of the American Academy of Neurology standard.
ReplyDeleteIs there a conflict of Interest?