{"id":355851,"date":"2016-04-04T10:46:17","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T15:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/healthcare\/patient-rights\/what-is-the-uniform-declaration-of-death-act-or-udda.html"},"modified":"2023-06-07T08:48:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T13:48:43","slug":"what-is-the-uniform-declaration-of-death-act-or-udda","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/healthcare\/patient-rights\/what-is-the-uniform-declaration-of-death-act-or-udda.html","title":{"rendered":"What is the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA)?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What is the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA)?<\/h1>\n
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\n By Melissa McCall, J.D.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by Aviana Cooper, Esq.<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
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This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

The Uniform Law Commission<\/a> drafted the Uniform Determination of Death Act<\/a> (UDDA) in 1980. The UDDA provides a legal definition of death.<\/p>\r\n

Before the UDDA, common law and accepted medical practices defined death differently. Under common law and accepted medical practice, death was when all vital functions stopped. Primary death indicators were a lack of spontaneous respiratory and cardiac action.<\/p>\r\n

But advancements in medical technology helped keep people alive who wouldn’t have survived before. These technologies include ventilators and feeding tubes. The line between life and death blurs when body functions continue without brain activity.<\/p>\r\n

The Uniform Determination of Death Act is a model legislation adopted nationwide. It provides a more concrete definition of death for legal purposes.<\/p>\r\n

This article covers the basics of the UDDA, its legal significance, exceptions, and controversies.<\/p>\r\n

What Is Brain Death?<\/h2>\r\n

For centuries, the accepted medical standard for determining death was the end of the body’s functions, primarily the heart. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation can restart the heart and bring people back to life. Otherwise, that person was dead.<\/p>\r\n

But medicine advanced. Fields like organ transplantation grew. So did the need to keep people "alive" long enough to donate organs.<\/p>\r\n

Harvard’s Definition<\/h3>\r\n

This was the impetus behind Harvard University’s 1968 "A Definition of Irreversible Coma." <\/a>This report came almost one year after the world’s first successful heart transplant. This transplant raised bioethical questions about death for clinicians. Were heart donors dead when transplant surgeons removed their hearts? Or did removing their heart kill them? Harvard’s medical school put together a committee to consider this ethical issue.<\/p>\r\n

Harvard’s ad hoc committee<\/a> concluded that the loss of neurological function, or brain death, defined death. Brain death differs from a persistent vegetative state. Brain death is synonymous<\/a> with brainstem death. In both instances, there is an irreversible end of all functions of the entire brain.<\/p>\r\n

The American Academy of Neurology<\/h3>\r\n

According to the American Academy of Neurology<\/a> (AAN), brain death includes:<\/p>\r\n