Brain Death Diagnosis is Opinion Based

Two-year-old Israel Stinson suffered a severe asthma attack.  His condition worsened while being transferred from one hospital to another.  In less than a day, doctors there declared Israel to be brain dead and made plans to pull his life support, even though the parents objected.  After a few court battles, the parents prevailed in getting their son to another hospital out of the country that agreed to provide care—namely better nutrition—where he was treated like a human being and not a corpse.  As a result, Israel has improved enough to be moved to a longer-term facility.  He’s moving more each day.  Several doctors who examined him believe Israel is brain-injured, but he’s not brain dead.  Here’s a critical fact.  A diagnosis of brain death is opinion-based, not science.