Since the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) was passed into law in 1981, much debate has occurred as to whether the standards bypass the Dead Donor Rule (DDR), which states that removing organs from donors cannot be the cause of death for these people. From a biological standpoint, the truth is organ donors declared dead under the UDDA are alive at the time of removing their organs, so they don’t meet the DDR. Lawyers have caught on. As a result, the American Academy of Neurology has proposed a revision to the UDDA (RUDDA) to reduce lawsuits, and the ULC is considering these revisions.
The first change would seek to replace the term irreversible in the standards with the term permanent. “Irreversible” is commonly held to mean “not capable of being reversed.” The term permanent is being offered as meaning that “no attempt will be made to reverse the situation.” Since doctors will not attempt to correct the person’s problem, it becomes “permanent” rather than “irreversible.” Thus, people whose prognosis is thought to result in death will be viewed as dead before they die. The term “permanent” has to do with stopping treatments deemed futile.