SAFETYLIT WEEKLY UPDATE

We compile citations and summaries of about 400 new articles every week.
RSS Feed

HELP: Tutorials | FAQ
CONTACT US: Contact info

Search Results

Journal Article

Citation

Joffe AR, Kolski H, Duff J, deCaen AR. Pediatr. Neurol. 2009; 41(5): 378-382.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ajoffe@cha.ab.ca

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2009.05.007

PMID

19818943

Abstract

Death has occurred when there is irreversible loss of integration of the organism as a whole, and brain death is said to be a criterion for death. In the present case, a 10-month-old boy was found submerged in a bathtub and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 37 minutes. He had received therapeutic dosing of phenobarbital and midazolam up to 5 hours prior to a brain death examination. He fulfilled all criteria for brain death according to Canadian Neurological Determination of Death Forum recommendations on an examination 42 hours after the drowning event, but started breathing another 15 hours later. Eleven previously published cases of purported reversal of findings of brain death are discussed here, including two infants who fulfilled all criteria for brain death for more than 24 hours. Recommendations for brain death determination may require revision for infants, to more clearly define a time interval between examinations and to incorporate consideration of confounding sedative drug effects. Together with previous reports, the present case calls into question the assumption that brain death as currently diagnosed is irreversible, and therefore equivalent to death of the patient.


Language: en

NEW SEARCH


All SafetyLit records are available for automatic download to Zotero & Mendeley
Print