Definition:
Background Information
The Uniform Determination of Death Act was adopted as part of the President's Commission report in 1981.
The Uniform Determination of Death Act provided the legal articulation of the whole-brain criterion of death as "irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem."
Definition
An individual is dead if he/she has sustained either
- (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or
(2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.
Sources
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Defining Death: A Report on the Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1981), p. 73.
Uniform Determination of Death Act. 12 Uniform Laws Annotated 320 (1990 Supp).
