American Thinker
April 10, 2023
The law that redefined death in 1981, referred to as the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), is being revised. The UDDA states that death by neurologic criteria must consist of “irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem.” However, in actual practice, doctors examine only the brainstem. The result is that people are being declared dead even though some still have detectable brainwaves, and others still have a part of the brain that functions, the hypothalamus. Lawyers have caught on, pointing out in lawsuits that the whole brain standard was not met for their clients. As a result, the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) is working on updates to the UDDA based on proposals from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).