I’m back, your self-designated medical television show critic!
I was going through my DVR this weekend when I realized I had not yet watched the episode of “Private Practice” from April 24. I can’t get enough of the inner office drama that occurs at the small practice in California.
In this episode, a young girl was brought into the ER following a tragic stabbing. The doctors at St. Ambrose Hospital worked tirelessly to save the little girl’s life, however, they are unsuccessful.
Following a neurological exam, it is determined that the girl had died. The family was told that brain death had occurred. Everything about this episode was good thus far, but this is when my frustration began to arise.
The TV doctors did not accurately explain brain death.
Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of all function of the brain including the brain stem. Brain death is final, a person cannot recover. It is legally, medically and ethically death. However, the show portrayed it as though the family needed to make the decision to discontinue further medical care. Sadly, this is not the case when brain death has occurred. There are not more decisions about care to be made, as the person has died.
Read more: http://www.lifelineofohio.org/2012/05/private-practice-addresses-organ-donation/
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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