Deciding when life has come to an end, Medical board to review who can declare when brain dead

Star Ledger ^ | 06.12.06 | ANGELA STEWART

[Coleus]

It was October 2003 when doctors at Newark's University Hospital declared Mary Stanford's 42-year-old daughter, Phyllis, "brain dead." "I was told there was no chance of her coming out of it," said Stanford, 67, who lives in the Iselin section of Woodbridge.

Dealing with an official declaration of brain death for a loved-one can be gut-wrenching, especially if a family has to wait hours for the ruling. Now, the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners wants to streamline the process by allowing just one physician to declare brain death.

Currently, an attending physician's finding must be confirmed by another doctor. And at least one of the two physicians must be a neurologist or neurosurgeon, a requirement that also would be eliminated.

Under the board's proposal, other specialists, such as a critical care doctor or trauma surgeon, could make the call. In fact, any other physician granted privileges by a hospital to declare brain death may do so alone. "I definitely feel it should not be left to one doctor," Stanford said. "Anyone can make a mistake."

The Medical Society of New Jersey, the state's largest physician's group, is reviewing the proposal and its biomedical ethics committee also plans to meet on the subject next week. The public can comment on the proposal until July 14. Martin Gizzi, a neurologist who chairs the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center in Edison, said he is concerned about brain death rulings coming from doctors who may not be properly trained.

"The brain death examination is not trivial," he said. For example, it is important to decipher whether a patient's response is the result of real brain activity or a spinal reflex, he said.

[Coleus]

June 13, 2006

Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The NJ Board of Medical Examiners has proposed a change in the rules which would lower the standards required in Declaring Death and End of Life Care.  The new proposal would eliminate the current requirement that two doctors, one of whom must be a neurologist or neurosurgeon, declare brain death.  

Under the new proposal, only one doctor, including other specialists, such as a critical care doctor, trauma surgeon, or any other physician granted hospital privileges would be sufficient to declare brain death.  NJRTL feels these changes are detrimental to patients and should be opposed.  Please note that public comments must be submitted to the Board of  Medical Examiners by July 14.  

Please send your comments opposing this proposed rule change to the Board of Medical Examiners at the link below.  Please note that you can email your comments directly to the Board of  Medical Examiners at the bottom of this page.

Here is a link to an article about the matter:

Thank you,

Marie Tasy
Executive Director

Please check our website regularly for the latest pro-life news and information.  We appreciate your support of our work!

[Coleus]

We Need Non-Voluntary Euthanasia, Says British Expert

[MarcusTulliusCicero]

....medical board said the new rules would "minimize the risk that patients would be kept on life-support systems for longer than necessary" and "would help facilitate organ transplantation by allowing brain death declarations to be made in a more efficient and timely manner." Hmmm....just a shot in the dark, but I suspect that the second reason is the real motivating factor. After all, they can only charge once for a patient on life support, but, if you do it right, you can charge 20 people for transplanted tissue harvested from a single donor (not to mention the lifetime of monitoring rejection).

[mtbopfuyn]

And at least one of the two physicians must be a neurologist or neurosurgeon, a requirement that also would be eliminated.

Eliminating the other doctor's diagnosis is wrong on so many levels. You can't get an in-grown toenail fixed without a second opinion and now they're deciding life and death issues? You'd at least think hospitals would want to have all their bases covered so as to avoid law suits. On the lighter side - a couple months ago M. Junior found a snake, "Hey, a dead snake!" "Are you sure it's dead?" "Yes, but poke it with this stick and see." Ok, I admit, I poked it and it wasn't dead.

[MrBlueSky2005]

When I saw the headline, for some reason I was thinking they were planning to make it more difficult to declare brain death...of course, I was sadly mistaken there...

[HairOfTheDog]

but, if you do it right, you can charge 20 people for transplanted tissue harvested from a single donor

Your scenario sounds to me like 20 lives saved or greatly improved by admitting one has died. But then, I'm an optimist.

[Navy Patriot]

I'm an optimist.

Maybe here, but in China they might call you something else.

We have to be very careful or we may travel the transplant road using communi$t chine$e ethic$.

[Calpernia]

>>>>Newark's University Hospital

Allow me to clarify to all, this is UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson.



Related:

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1593821/posts
UMDNJ chief to press for change

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1484951/posts
Three Plagued Mice

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/572763/posts
Freeper Research on Anthrax Perps - Updated 9/17/01

[robertpaulsen]

How about this as a compromise between your wish and the hospital's wish? The patient's next of kin (spouse, parent, etc.) simply signs the following statement and submits it to the hospital:

I, __________, next of kin to _____________, a patient at your hospital, reject your claim of brain death and promise to pay for the continued care of said patient as long as medically possible.

Everyone wins.

[Calpernia]

>>>>"would help facilitate organ transplantation by allowing brain death declarations to be made in a more efficient and timely manner."


See this?

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1602444/posts
China harvesting inmates' organs, journalist says

Excerpt:

A Chinese official was the first person to reveal that secret medical work was being done at the Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, in Sujiatun, a suburb of Shenyang, the major city in northeastern China, he said.

Mr. Jin then said he found out that a large underground prison was built beneath the hospital and that members of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group were being held there. As many as 6,000 people are thought to be held prisoner at the underground facility, he said.

The hospital is harvesting the organs of the prisoners, including kidneys, livers, and eye parts, he said. The organs are then sold to people, from both China and abroad, who need medical organ transplants.

---

By 2003 when the PDIA ended its grant making and closed the program, it had distributed $45 million to organization and individuals working on end-of-life issues. Altho, the project is closed the work goes on.



***The project continues through grant programs from UMDNJ.***

[RightWhale]

Death is declared by the state or an agent of the state. It may involve factors such as brain death or it may not.

[cpforlife.org]

“The attack on life doesn't begin in the womb. It begins in the minds of people.”
--Ron Galloy

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[HairOfTheDog]

Always careful. Careful, honest debate on this issue needs to continue.

[andysandmikesmom]

Having someone declared brain dead, whether one plans to use their organs for tranplant or not, is a very, very serious business...and I do believe, that every single care should be taken to make sure that a person really is brain dead, before declaring them to be such...I do think, that having two doctors, make the diagnosis of brain death, to be the wisest course to take...and that one of those doctors, should be a neurologist, or a neurosurgeon, someone who is especially trained to recognize a true brain death....and there is the need for the medical tests(Such as the EEG) to be done, to add credence to the physical exams of the brain dead person...all care should be taken, to make sure that when one is declared 'brain dead', that they are actually 'brain dead'...

My own son was declared 'brain dead', after a cerebral hemorrhage....and this was done after there were several medical tests being done, several physical exams, and several doctors agreeing upon that diagnosis...and in this case, there was also no chance, that someone was trying to declare him 'brain dead' in order to have his organs for transplant...because, you see, he had cancer, and no one with cancer, can donate their organs for transplant...so tho there was no chance at all that my sons organs would be used for transplant, still there was great care taken that the diagnosis was correct...my son was indeed brain dead, and our disconnecting his ventilator, in no way could have 'killed', him, as he was already dead...

But the comfort for us was that, knowing for sure that he was brain dead, we could disconnect him, and allow him to be buried, and not linger in a hospital bed, connected up to all sorts of gadgets, whose function for him, was now useless...

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank you for always sharing your wisdom and experience a&mm.

[ladyinred]

This is just scary as heck to me.

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks...

[MarcusTulliusCicero]

You'd have to be an optimist to think that such a strong financial incentive wouldn't influence determinations of brain death or, even worse, deciding life support should be cut off based on very subjective "quality of life" criteria.

[bvw]

License to Kill in the hands of those with motive and opportunity to do so.

[HairOfTheDog]

No, I have to be an optimist or none of us are worth saving.