Brain Death - New & Improved Statutory Language

Tenielle Brown, a law professor at the University of Utah, has a draft article, When Death Is Not a Binary, where she defends the following amended determination of death act.  

An individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible permanent cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible permanent cessation of all apparent functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards. If despite following accepted medical standards, the treating physicians cannot conclusively demonstrate the permanent cessation of all cardiopulmonary or brain functions, death may still be declared under this statute so long as there is clear and convincing evidence that the individual meets either cardiopulmonary or neurological criteria. Physicians who in good faith follow accepted medical standards in the diagnosis of death and removal of mechanical ventilation will be immune from any civil or criminal liability based on the individual’s death.