Definition:
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."
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).
DeGrazia D. 1998. Biology, Consciousness, and the Definition of Death. Report from Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/IPPP/winter98/biology_consciousness.htm
Also Known As: Uniform Determination of Death Act, brain death
