Integrity in the Concept and Determination of Brain Death: Recent Challenges in Medicine, Law, and Ethics
February 27 @ 8:00 am - February 28 @ 5:00 pm
This symposium will address concerns posed by the American Academy of Neurology’s issuance of updated 2023 Guidelines after an unsuccessful effort to revise the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA).
Participants will a unique opportunity to learn about, discuss, and strive to better address several key issues including:
- How/Can we ensure, with moral certitude, that patients determined to be dead by neurologic criteria are dead according to the standards of a sound Christian anthropology and the law?
- How/Can testing protocols for brain death be improved to accurately, consistently, and efficiently identify which patients are dead by neurologic criteria and which are not?
- What challenges might be encountered and appropriately addressed if implementing more rigorous clinical standards and protocols results in some delay to the process of vital organ recovery?
- What ethical measures and resources are required to better uphold key ethical goods including patient dignity, informed consent, and respect for conscience?
The symposium will feature leading scholars on the core clinical, anthropological, and ethical issues at stake and will feature plenty of time for dialogue.
This symposium shall be conducted to achieve fair representation of distinct positions, robust dialogue among participants, and practical results.
