Although the concept of brain death is accepted by the majority of physicians, lawyers, ethicists and society at large, controversies about determination of death by neurological criteria persist, and often reach the public eye. In this article, we examine four prominent controversial brain death cases from 2013–2016. We review current controversies, including protocol variability, recognition of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) criteria for brain death as an accepted medical standard, and management of objections to discontinuation of organ support after determination of brain death. Brain death remains conceptually and legally valid, and it is vital that these issues are solved. We argue that medical societies and governmental regulatory bodies must support the AAN criteria in order to decrease protocol variability, and must fully endorse the validity of these criteria as accepted medical standards.

尽管脑死亡的概念已为大多数医师，律师，伦理学家和整个社会所接受，但有关通过神经学标准确定死亡的争论仍然存在，并且常常引起公众的关注。在本文中，我们研究了2013年至2016年间有争议的四个脑死亡案例。我们回顾了当前的争议，包括方案可变性，美国神经病学会（AAN）将脑死亡标准确认为公认的医学标准以及确定脑死亡后停止器官支持的异议处理。脑死亡在概念和法律上仍然有效，解决这些问题至关重要。我们认为医学界和政府监管机构必须支持AAN标准，以减少方案的可变性，