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Bioethics of Legal Death
There are a few controversies surrounding the topic of legal death among health professionals and the general public. The main issues argued amongst bioethicist include but are not limited to; non-heart-beating organ donation, the criteria for determining death for adults versus infants, and whole-brain versus higher-brain versus brainstem death.

Non-heart-beating organ donation
Non-heart-beating organ donation or NHBD is the procurement of organs after cardiac death. Cardiac death is determined after a patient has suffered cardiac arrest for two to five minutes.

Whole-brain vs higher-brain vs brainstem criteria
Deciding on which criteria to follow for determining brain death is still heavily debated today. Whole-brain criteria are the standard most countries follow including the United States. Under the whole-brain death criteria, all functions of the brain including the brainstem must be ceased. The brainstem criteria differs from the whole-brain formulation, in that only the brainstem function is ceased. The brainstem is responsible for breathing and carrying out somatic regulatory functions.


 * Whole-brain vs higher-brain vs brainstem death
 * Brain death criteria for Adults vs infants


 * non-heart-beating organ donation

Legal Death Statute
All 50 states within the United States define legal death from the adaptation of the Uniform Determination of Death Act (previously cited). States that do not recognize "irreversible cessation of all function of the entire brain, including the brainstem" to be death include Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas.

References