Mistakenly Declared “Brain Dead?”

This story is a bit suspect. It claims that three Japanese nationals were declared “brain dead” in Canada and the USA, but later recovered after being transported back to Japan.

The term “brain dead” is notoriously misused. For example, one of the patients was breathing on his own but was supposedly declared brain dead anyway. NO reputable doctor would declare death by neurological criteria if the patient could breathe independently since, by definition, part of the brain would clearly be working.

What I suspect might have happened is the patients were declared to be in a persistent vegetative state, which some refer inaccurately to as brain dead. Of course, even this diagnosis was apparently wrong, highlighting the problem of rushing to cut off life-sustaining treatment to people with serious and catastrophic brain injuries. It also illustrates the need to establish universal diagnostic criteria that must be followed before doctors can declare death by neurological criteria.