TOHTA 1994
Definition
The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994 (India), amended in 2011. Section 2(d) defines brain-stem death as the permanent and irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain stem, and requires a four-member hospital medical board for certification.
- Full name
- Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994
- Jurisdiction
- India
- Amended
- 2011
- Key provision
- Section 2(d) defines brain-stem death; requires a four-member medical board
Common questions
Why does a transplantation law also define brain-stem death?+
Organ retrieval for transplant requires a legally recognised point of death that precedes withdrawal of ventilatory support, so THOTA sets the brain-stem death definition and certification process needed to make that retrieval lawful in India.
Who certifies a brain-stem death under this Act?+
A four-member hospital medical board must independently examine and confirm the diagnosis, a safeguard intended to prevent a single clinician's determination from being sufficient for a death that enables organ donation.
How does brain-stem death under THOTA differ from cardiopulmonary death?+
Cardiopulmonary death is declared when heartbeat and breathing stop irreversibly, while brain-stem death is declared when brain-stem functions permanently cease even though a ventilator may still maintain heartbeat and oxygenation artificially.
Related terms
- Dead-Donor Rule
- The ethical and legal principle that vital organs may only be retrieved from individuals who have already been declared legally dead. It...
- Harvard Criteria (1968)
- The four-point diagnostic criteria for a permanently non-functioning brain published by the Harvard Ad Hoc Committee in JAMA: unreceptivity and unresponsivity, no...
- Molecular Death
- The progressive, tissue-by-tissue irreversible failure of cellular metabolism that follows somatic death. Different tissues undergo molecular death at different rates, ranging from...
- Somatic Death
- The irreversible cessation of vital functions of the organism as a whole: cardiac activity, respiratory activity, and integrated neurological function. The threshold...
- Uniform Determination of Death Act 1981 (UDDA)
- US model legislation, drafted by the President's Commission, that provides two legally equivalent definitions of death: irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory...