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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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PREMIUM NEWS ARCHIVE

Baby heart transplants elicit discussions of 'dead'.(Front)

Article from: The Virginian Pilot Article date: August 14, 2008

By Stephanie Nano

The Associated Press

NEW YORK

A report on three heart transplants involving babies is focusing attention on a touchy issue in the organ donation field: When and how can someone be declared dead?

For decades, organs have typically been removed only after doctors determine that a donor's brain has completely stopped working. In the case of the infants, all three were on life support and showed little brain function, but they didn't meet the criteria for brain death.

With their families' ...

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