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Commentary by Roger N. Rosenberg, MD

JAMA. 2009;301(11):1172-1174.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

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 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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