Tell public about brain death

doi:10.1136/bmj.39234.458762.3A

BMJ 2007;334:1179 (9 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39234.458762.3A

Letters

Presumed consent

Tell public about brain death

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

Until fairly recently, the definition of death was cardiopulmonarydeath, not brain death.¹ There is a vast suspicion that doctorswill take organs from those who are not "really dead"—thissuspicion will seem to be confirmed if the heart is still beatingand there seems to be undue haste to harvest the organs.

The public needs to be educated on what "brain dead" means,the difference between brain death and a coma, the need forspeed in removal of the organs, and, most importantly, the criteriathat must be met to confirm that someone is indeed "dead" beforeorgans will be removed.

Joan McClusky, medical writer

New York, NY 10003, USA

joanmnewyork@aol.com

Competing interests: None declared.