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Mills M, Cortezzo DE. Moral Distress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: What Is It, Why It Happens, and How We Can Address It. Front Pediatr. 2020 Sep 10; 8: 581.

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Article

Neonatal Brain Death and Current Controversies: An Illustrative Case

1University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States


American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2023, Vol. 11 No. 2, 23-27
DOI: 10.12691/ajmcr-11-2-4
Copyright © 2023 Science and Education Publishing

Cite this paper:
Lydia Leavitt. Neonatal Brain Death and Current Controversies: An Illustrative Case. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2023; 11(2):23-27. doi: 10.12691/ajmcr-11-2-4.

Correspondence to: Lydia  Leavitt, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States. Email: Lleavi3@uic.edu

Abstract

Brain death is a difficult determination, often involving legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas for care teams and families. Determination of brain death in the neonate is particularly difficult due to ambiguous and inconsistent guidelines, which have generated controversies and debates regarding several components of the brain death examination in neonates. The treatment team of a term neonate who suffered a severe hypoxic-ischemic brain injury during birth encountered numerous uncertainties as they navigated the brain death determination guidelines. This was the first time a neonatal brain death determination was performed at this 52-bed level III neonatal intensive care unit.

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