Harvard Criteria (1968)
Definition
The four-point diagnostic criteria for a permanently non-functioning brain published by the Harvard Ad Hoc Committee in JAMA: unreceptivity and unresponsivity, no movements or spontaneous breathing, no reflexes, and a flat electroencephalogram. The foundational document of the modern brain-death framework.
- Publisher
- Harvard Ad Hoc Committee, JAMA
- Year
- 1968
- Criterion 1
- Unreceptivity and unresponsivity
- Criterion 2
- No movements or spontaneous breathing
- Criterion 3
- No reflexes; flat EEG
Common questions
Why was a formal brain-death definition needed in 1968 specifically?+
Advances in mechanical ventilation could keep a body's heart and lungs functioning after the brain had permanently stopped working, creating cases older cardiopulmonary death definitions could not classify, and the committee's criteria gave clinicians a defensible standard for that situation.
Are the original 1968 Harvard Criteria still used unmodified today?+
No, most jurisdictions now use updated criteria such as apnoea testing protocols and more specific neurological examination standards, but the Harvard Criteria remain the historical foundation those later frameworks built on.
Why did the criteria include a flat EEG requirement?+
An isoelectric EEG was included as objective electrophysiological confirmation of absent brain electrical activity, adding a measurable check beyond the clinical bedside signs of unresponsiveness and absent reflexes.
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