The Legal Effects of the Cerebral Death

Before the recent developments in medical sciences, the stop of the heartbeat and breathing was an indication of the end of life. Nowadays, however, the medical specialists, consider the two following criteria to recognise that death has definitely occurred: (1) the irreversible stop of respiratory operations and blood circulation, and (2) The irreversible stop of brain operations. Today, most of the developed countries of the world, such as the United States of America, France, England and Japan, have considered the cerebral death in their laws as equivalent to the non-operation of all parts of the brain. By accepting the cerebral death as a real death, the Iranian Medical society has accepted the same approach to recognize the occurrence of a definite death. In 1378 (H.S.), a national conference was held in Iran to determine nature and occurrence of the cerebral death. Subsequently, the Act on the Use of Organs of Those Died due to the Cerebral Death for Transplantation was adopted in Iran in 1379 (H.S.). Although, contrary to the law of many countries, death has not been defined in the Iranian law and the occurrence of the cerebral death has not clearly been specified, this article attempts to define the cerebral death and to examine its legal effects.