of death." The committee set four very thorough neurological examinations to establish brain death, that became known as"the Harvard criteria."
These include:
Lack of receptivity and response to external stimuli or internal need.
Absence of spontaneous breathing or movement as observed by a physician over a period of at least one hour,
Absence of eliciiable reflexes,
And a flat EEG, i.e., an isoelectric electroencephalogram, in order to confirm the first three.”
There is a conflict among certain Orthodox scholars as to whether the Harvard process is acceptable. on the other hand, Rabbi Walter Jacob accepts these recommendations of the Harvard Committee, finding them compatible with the halakhah."We are satisfied that these
criteria include those of the older tradition and comply with our concern that life has ended.’
How does this scientific determination of brain death relate to the Talmudic criterion of the cessation of respiration? Medical science tells us that the center that controls breathing is located in the medulla oblongata in the brain stem. Some modern halakhists claim that the cessation of breathing signifies the death of the brain stem which controls breathing. From this point of view, the halakhic test for death, the cessation of breathing parallels the modern medical test for brain death. The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Goren expressed such a view: "Brain death means the irreversible cessation of all the functions of the brain including the brain stem...I have clearly established that the cessation of respiration of an injured person, when he is in the condition of irreversible brain death, as when breathing through the nose has ceased, constitutes death. This is exactly what we have found in the
tractate Yoma"."