Current Ethical and Legal Issues in Brain Death in Our Pluralistic World

Two weeks from today (October 15, 2020 at 10:00 Central), in the opening session of the ASBH Annual Conference, I join co-panelists Alex Kon, Bob Truog, and Keiichiro Yamamoto to discuss "Current Ethical and Legal Issues in Brain Death in Our Pluralistic World." 

Panel members will discuss current ethical and legal issues in brain death from a global, multidisciplinary perspective. Presenters represent different disciplines, work at institutions across the United States and the globe, and have all published on this topic. 

Pope - The first presenter, an expert in healthcare law and ethics, will discuss growing litigation in the United States and Canada that challenges the legal foundation of using neurologic criteria to determine death, and will argue that these cases expose four unresolved ambiguities in the legal rules governing determination of death that must be addressed. 

Truog - The second presenter, a bioethicist and intensivist, will argue that although the law states that brain death is the absence of all brain function, it is not actually that. Further, although the American Academy of Neurology says that brain death is biological death, it is not that either. Instead, brain death is a complex social construct – the implications of which will be explored. 

Yamamoto - The third presenter, a philosopher in Japan, will compare Japanese, American, and other Western countries’ institutional, legal, cultural, and ethical perspectives on brain death to highlight key similarities and differences. This discussion will assist healthcare ethics consultants when faced with divergent cultural perspectives. 

Kon - The fourth presenter, a pediatric intensivist and bioethicist, will discuss approaches that healthcare ethics consultants may employ when consulting on cases in which the PICU team wishes to declare brain death but the parents object, and will discuss upcoming recommendations for such situations promulgated by the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Here is a direct link to this session.