Brain Death: A Podcast with Robert Truog
episode
GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
46 min
3 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 9 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the focus of today’s episode and who is the guest expert?
The Jerry
Powell Podcast is brought to you by Archstone Foundation, preparing society and meeting the needs of an aging population. And now, here are your hosts. Welcome to the Geriatric Pal podcast. This is Eric Guadero. This is Alex Smith. And Alex,
who do we have with us today? Today, we are honored to be joined by Bob Trug, who is Francis Gleason Lee, endowed professor of legal medicine and the director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. I believe that he is the first pediatrician we have had on the Geriatrics and Palliative Care podcast. Welcome to the podcast, Bob.
Happy to be here. Looking forward to it. Yes, I'm not surprised I'm the first pediatrician you've
had. And we're also delighted to welcome a guest host, Liz Zhang, who is Assistant Professor of Hospital Medicine at UCSF as MD-PhD, very interested in ethical issues. Welcome to the Jerry Pal podcast, Liz.
Thank you. Great to be
here. And no, we are not switching to a pediatric palliative care podcast. We're going to stay as Jerry Pal. And today we're going to be talking about brain death. We're going to be referring to Bob's recent kind of multiple editorials on this subject in JAMA, which we'll have links to on the Jerry Pal podcast show notes. But before we get into that subject, we always start off with a song request. Bob, do you have a song request for us?
Yes. Well, I thought given the subject that the Grateful Dead should definitely be the band and Touch of Grey actually has some nice lyrics in it that sort of refer to our desire to survive. And so I thought that that might be the best accompaniment here.
How did Dr. Truog first become interested in brain death?
Are you a deadhead? You know, yes, I guess I would have to say that.
First concert I ever went to, Grateful Dead. I was in eighth grade. I think this was their first song they performed. That was in Ann Arbor. Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful.
I first saw them as a student at UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, which was our big arena. So that was one of my memories of freshman year of college.
I have only heard the Grateful Dead once and it was actually not the Grateful Dead. It was Phil Lash at Terrapin Crossing in Marin singing children's songs.
What historical events led to the creation of the brain‑death definition?
So I can't really speak of the Grateful Dead.
They live. Well, the remaining members live where we live now. So there's another connection. Okay, here we go.
Must be getting early. The clocks are running late Paint by numbers, morning sky Looks so phony Dawn is breaking everywhere Light a candle, curse the glare Draw the curtains, I don't care Cause it's alright I will get by
Well
done. Well done. Alex, you really went up on the production quality here.
I'm going to be a little crazy there. That's
a lot of
fun. Thank you for that song selection.
Alex has all his play toys going on in that song right now. I do. I do. Bob, first, very much appreciate having you on this podcast.
Why did the 1968 Harvard committee redefine death using neurological criteria?
So we're going to be talking about the subject of brain death, which is an issue both in geriatrics and palliative care. And for anybody taking the palliative care boards coming up in about a month, incredibly important topic for the boards too. You got to know a little bit about this. Bob, how did you get interested in this as a topic? Because you've been focused on this for a while.
You might say, a lot of people say I've been obsessed with this for 30 years. Yeah. I actually remember distinctly, I was at Denver Children's Hospital in the intensive care unit, and we had a morning lecture. And the speaker that morning was teaching us about brain death. And He taught it just like any other medical diagnosis. Like, you know, you do these things, you test these certain things, and then you make this diagnosis that the person is dead. Kind of like, you know, here's the criteria for ARDS. Here's the criteria for acute renal failure. And you memorize it and that's it.
What does the new World Brain‑Death Project consensus say about diagnosis variability?
And I can remember going home that evening and thinking, now, wait a minute. I mean, why is it so clear that this means that a person is dead? I mean, they don't look dead. And, and it's just sort of stayed in the back of my mind. And, you know, I would ask you as you know, as physicians, I mean, most of us are taught brain death that way that here's this test and then and then the person is dead.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the focus of today’s episode and who is the guest expert?
0:01–1:47
2
How did Dr. Truog first become interested in brain death?
1:47–2:25
3
What historical events led to the creation of the brain‑death definition?
2:25–3:57
4
Why did the 1968 Harvard committee redefine death using neurological criteria?
3:57–5:00
5
What does the new World Brain‑Death Project consensus say about diagnosis variability?
5:00–6:20
6
How do high‑profile cases like Jahi McMath challenge the concept of brain death?
6:20–9:52
7
What are the legal and ethical controversies surrounding brain death in the United States?
9:52–12:51
8
How might advances in organ‑transplant technology reshape the need for a brain‑death definition?
12:51–46:01
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
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