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Editorial
August 3, 2020

Brain Death—Moving Beyond Consistency in the Diagnostic Criteria

Author Affiliations
  • 1Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 3The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, St Michael, Barbados
  • 4Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados
  • 5Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
JAMA. 2020;324(11):1045-1047. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.11665

In this issue of JAMA, contributors to the World Brain Death Project present an international consensus report on criteria for the diagnosis of brain death, or determination of death by neurologic criteria (BD/DNC).1 The report addresses inconsistencies in clinical guidelines across different countries and focuses attention on the need for better education and certification of clinicians who are authorized to make this clinical diagnosis.

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