JAMA Classics. Commentary by Roger N. Rosenberg, MD JAMA. 2009;301(11):1172-1174.
SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A Definition of Irreversible Coma: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death
Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death
JAMA. 1968;205(6):337-340.
This landmark classic article was the first to quantitatively define the clinical and laboratory criteria used to measure the presence of brain death. The study included “only those comatose individuals who have no discernible central nervous system activity.” Criteria to establish the presence of irreversible coma included (1) unreceptivity and unresponsitivity; (2) no movements or breathing; (3) no reflexes (brain stem); and (4) flat electroencephalogram. These criteria are still considered to be reliable and acceptable by the medical community and have become established into law, which states that brain death is equivalent to death and that all artificial support systems sustaining heart, respiratory, and metabolic functions can be legally stopped.
Free full text of this commentary here.
Free full text of the original JAMA article here.