What is brain death? The imperative to communicate honestly and transparently with the public

(This conference will be held in English online.)

Robert D. Truog, MD
Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, Anaesthesia, & Pediatrics
Senior Associate in Critical Care Medicine
Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Director, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 

To attend the conference, please visit the following web page : 2022 conferences series | Pragmatic Health Ethics Research Unit

Brief summary of the presentation:
The position of the American Academy of Neurology is that “brain death” signifies the biological death of the person, just like when death is declared following cardiopulmonary arrest. We now know that this is not true – although these patients have a devastating brain injury, some may “survive” for years. A lack of honesty and transparency about the meaning of brain death threatens the trust of the public in the medical profession.

About Robert Truog:
Dr. Robert Truog is the Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, Anaesthesiology & Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, where he serves as Director of the Center for Bioethics, leading educational and academic initiatives across the medical school, including an undergraduate curriculum, a Master’s degree, and a Fellowship program.

He has practiced pediatric intensive care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital for more than 30 years, including serving as Chief of the Division for more than a decade. He has published more than 300 articles and books in bioethics and related disciplines, including “Talking with patients and families about medical error” (2010, Hopkins) and Death, dying, and organ transplantation (2012, Oxford). In 2013, he was honored with the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam.