BDT Foundations
A catastrophic brain injury may look severe, but it is not the same thing as this legal determination.
What is brain death?
This step requires time to confirm brain function loss is not evolving or recovering.
What is the observation period?
Confounders must be ruled out because they can make a patient appear brain dead even though the condition may be this.
What is reversible?
Brain death testing happens over time and includes more than one required component.
What is a multi‑step process (series of required steps, structured process)?
Seeing a beating heart or warm skin does not mean this has not occurred.
What is brain death?
This one word in the definition of brain death explains why doctors must wait and observe instead of acting immediately.
What is permanent?
Before brain death testing begins, the patient must be medically stable enough that the results would be considered reliable.
What is physiologic stability?
(Accept: stable vital conditions / stable physiology)
This condition can suppress reflexes if the patient’s body temperature is too low.
What is hypothermia?
This part of brain death testing evaluates responsiveness and loss of brainstem reflexes.
What is the neurologic examination?
A common misconception is that brain death testing exists to speed up this process.
What is organ donation?
Brain death is defined as the complete and permanent loss of this.
What is all brain and brainstem function?
Before testing begins, blood pressure must be adequate to support this.
What is brain perfusion?
These can suppress responsiveness and reflexes, making brain function appear absent when it is not.
What are medications or toxins?
This specific test is used to determine whether the brain can still trigger breathing when carbon dioxide levels rise.
What is the apnea test?
A common misconception is that if organ donation is possible, doctors stop doing this for the patient.
What is providing life‑saving care (or continuing all appropriate medical care)?
These are conditions that can mimic signs of brain death and must be ruled out before testing.
What are confounders?
This minimum body temperature must be met before brain death testing can proceed.
What is ≥ 36°C or 96.8°F?
This condition affects oxygen delivery to the brain and can make a patient appear unresponsive.
What is hypoxia?
This type of testing is required if part of the clinical exam or apnea test cannot be completed.
What is ancillary testing?
Separating the hospital’s role in determining death from the OPO’s role in donation protects this critical principle.
What is trust (or ethical integrity of the process)?
Acceptable alternates:
Brain death testing can only begin after these have been confirmed.
What are prerequisites?
This is what TV portrayals often miss when they suggest brain death can be determined immediately.
What is the requirement that prerequisites be met before testing?
Brain death testing cannot proceed if confounders are present because findings could be explained by this.
What is a reversible condition?
This step formally confirms death and must occur before any organ recovery process can begin.
What is documentation of the (brain death) determination?
Brain death testing protects patients, families, and hospitals by separating medical determination of death from this process.
What is organ donation or organ procurement?