The issue of determining death becomes further confused by the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), which, ironically, was drafted with the intent to clarify the issue.
In 1981, the Uniform Determination of Death Act made brain death a legal form of death in all 50 states.
The 1981 Uniform Determination of Death Act also defines death as the "irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions," which left an opening for another source of donors.
The commission culminated in the Uniform Determination of Death Act in 1981, which defined death as "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem".
Adopted in 1981, the Uniform Determination of Death Act states that in order to pronounce brain death, "the entire brain must cease to function, irreversibly".
These issues are quite different from that of the "determination of death," and failure to distinguish these matters has been the source of great confusion.
In a contentious environment, the law has even invaded the intensive care unit, influencing the decisions of physicians concerning the withdrawal of treatment or the determination of death.
Here it must be stressed that absence of a heartbeat was never considered a cardinal factor in the determination of death (Bab. Talmud, tractate Yoma 85A).
And though the 1981 UDDA (Uniform Determination of Death Act) states that the "whole brain" must be dead, the whole brain is rarely tested.
Like all states, California follows a version of the 1981 Uniform Determination of Death Act, which says that someone who has sustained the "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead".
