Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

News

Irish judges rule that brain dead pregnant woman should be allowed to die

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7830 (Published 30 December 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g7830

Rapid Response:

"...brain dead pregnant woman should be allowed to die"

Unless the RoI is very different from UK, a brain dead woman is dead. She cannot die again. This kind of fundamental misunderstanding potentially jeopardises the organ donation process by implying that donors after neurological determination of death are not actually dead.

Competing interests: No competing interests

31 December 2014
Matt Thomas
Doctor
North Bristol NHS Trust