你知道医生诊断脑死亡的方式不符合美国法律吗？

《统一死亡判定法》要求，神经学意义上的死亡判定必须以整个大脑（包括脑干）的所有功能不可逆转地停止为准。

但美国神经病学学会的脑死亡指南明确允许在下丘脑（大脑的一部分）仍在运作的情况下宣布脑死亡。

迈克尔·奈尔-柯林斯博士写道：

“法律与实践之间的这种‘不匹配’是众所周知的，并且已经持续了几十年……因此，一些在法律上仍然活着的人会继续被错误地宣告为法律意义上的死亡。这并非由于临床医生的失误、未能遵循公认的指南或诊断本身存在困难……这里不存在任何技术或诊断上的难题；而是因为人们选择将不符合法律死亡标准的病人宣告为死亡。”

如果你的亲人面临脑死亡的诊断，你完全有理由向医生指出这一点，并要求更多的时间和治疗。

Did you know that the way doctors diagnose brain death does not comply with US law?

The Uniform Determination of Death Act requires the irreversible cessation of ALL functions of the entire brain including the brain stem for a neurological declaration of death.

But the American Academy of Neurology brain death guideline explicitly allows brain death to be declared despite ongoing functioning of the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain.

Dr. Michael Nair-Collins writes:

“This ‘mismatch’ between law and practice is well-known and has persisted for decades…Thus, some individuals who remain alive under the law will continue to be inaccurately declared legally dead. This is not due to clinician error, failure to follow accepted guidelines, or an inherently challenging diagnosis…There is no technical or diagnostic challenge here; rather, it is a choice to declare patients who do not meet the legal standard for death to be dead.”

If you have a loved one facing a brain death diagnosis, it is completely legitimate to point this out to your doctor and ask for more time and treatment.