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Ethics End of Life
One-Hour Concurrent Session

Contestation of Pediatric Brain Death: Practical Strategies for Clinicians and Hospital Personnel

Sunday, February 23, 2025
4:30pm – 5:30pm Eastern Time
Location: W311E
CE: 1

This session will discuss the findings of SCCM’s Contestation of Pediatric Brain Death Determination Toolkit Task Force, whose charge was to identify potential components of an accessible, broadly applicable toolkit for hospital personnel and families involved in a brain death/death by neurologic criteria (BD/DNC) contestation case. Speakers will review clinical, communication, multiprofessional, legal, and self-care strategies for approaching cases in which families reject or contest pediatric BD/DNC, including those involving the courts and the media. These strategies have been elicited via qualitative research with multiprofessional clinicians and hospital personnel who have encountered contested cases, reviews of academic literature and popular media, and legal reviews with subject matter experts.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify early indicators of conflict in pediatric brain death/death by neurologic criteria (BD/DNC) and potential de-escalation strategies
  • List the appropriate personnel to involve in a contested pediatric BD/DNC case and evaluate appropriate timelines for involvement
  • Review current empirical data about BD/DNC contestation and identify knowledge gaps
  • Evaluate the legal rights and responsibilities of clinicians, patients, and families involved in a contested BD/DNC case
  • Compare and contrast variability in state laws and court rulings relevant to BD/DNC

Presentations:

  • 4:35pm – 4:50pm Eastern Time
    Cessation of Function: A Qualitative Investigation of Contested BD/DNC Cases

    Erica Andrist, MD, MBE – University of Michigan Health System Mott Children's Hospital

    Heidi Flori, MD (she/her/hers) – University of Michigan Health System Mott Children's Hospital

  • 4:50pm – 5:05pm Eastern Time
    Lessons From the Literature: A Review of BD/DNC Contestation in the Literature

    Andrew W. Kiragu, MD, FAAP, FCCM (he/him/his) – Children's Minnesota

  • 5:05pm – 5:20pm Eastern Time
    Not So Uniform: A Brief Legal History of the UDDA and Current Controversies in BD/DNC

    Thaddeus M. Pope, JD, PhD, HEC-C (he/him/his) – Mitchell Hamline School of Law