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Simon J. Ellis, MRCP
Department of Neurology The Mount Sinai Medical Center One Gustave L. Levy PI New York, NY 10029

Arch Neurol. 1989;46(6):601.

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

To the Editor.

—Grigg et al¹ in the September 1987 issue of the ARCHIVES cast doubt on the usefulness of the electroencephalogram as a confirmatory test of brain death. The acceptance of brain death as a final event by relatives is, in part, dependent on the medical profession's acceptance of brain death as death.²

The criteria of Grigg et al and their use of the term "brain death" constitute a shift from the American use of the term to the British. The American criteria of death, as proposed by the President's Commission,³ include "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem." This is a state and is independent of diagnosis. Grigg et al include a primary cause of coma as part of their criteria, as do the British.⁴

The testing of brain-stem function can diagnose brain-stem death but not brain death. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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