Harvard’s criteria and Philadelphia protocol (for diagnosing brain death)

NEET PG Forensic medicine
#1

Harvard’s criteria and Philadelphia protocol (for diagnosing brain death)

  1. Unresponsivity and unreceptivity
  2. Complete apnoea
  3. No movements or breathing
  4. No reflexes including spinal reflexes like knee jerk
  5. Flat EEG
  6. Repetition of test in 24 hrs (Harvard’s criteria / 2 hrs (Philadelphia protocol)
    No requirement of falling arterial pressure without the support of drugs (in Harvards)

*Absence of heart rate unresponsive to atropine is not a sign of brain death.