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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
On Wednesday in La Rochelle, 7 children on bicycles were hit by an 83-year-old motorist who was driving the wrong way in the city center. A 10-year-old girl has since been declared brain dead. What does that mean ? Explanations from Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
Wednesday June 5 in La Rochelle, while a group of children from a leisure center were traveling by bike towards the neighboring park, they were struck down by a car going the wrong way. The 83-year-old motorist would have deviated his trajectory without us knowing the reason today. The shock was brutal: 7 children out of 12 were injured, 3 were hospitalized in absolute emergency, including a little girl airlifted to a hospital in Poitiers. If the seriously injured seem to have returned to “relative” emergency 24 hours after the incident, this 10-year-old girl was unfortunately declared brain dead today by the medical profession.
What is brain death?
Also called brain death, brain death corresponds “to a state of clinical death, which is also called an outdated coma” first defines Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo. “A patient in this state has a brain that no longer functions, but his other organs, such as the heart, still function. This is possible thanks to intubation and the artificial respirator which artificially prolongs the patient’s life thanks to oxygenation. adds the doctor.
What tests can detect brain death?
Faced with an intubated patient whose heart is beating but the brain is no longer responding, doctors must make the diagnosis of brain death. “For this, two main examinations can allow doctors to make this diagnosis: cerebral CT angiography orelectroencephalogram” specifies Dr. Kierzek. “One or other of the examinations will be carried out, in a medico-legal framework: the first makes it possible to visualize the blood circulation in the patient’s brain; the second, its electrical activity. When we note the absence of one or the other – in the context of the EEG we will speak of a “flat” electroencephalogram – the diagnosis of brain death can officially be made.. Apart from these two examinations, a transcranial Doppler, to detect blood circulation through the wall of the skull, can be carried out in certain cases.
What happens after brain death is officially announced to the family?
Once the diagnosis has been made, doctors take the time to inform the patient’s family and make them understand the consequences of this announcement. “It is sometimes difficult to understand, because for her, their loved one is still alive, their heart is beating, they are breathing. We must make them understand that this situation is only possible thanks to the respirator.” underlines the doctor. Once the shock of the announcement has passed, doctors also talk about organ donation with loved ones.
Donating your organs, a gesture of solidarity
A way to know if the person was opposed to it or not, although consent to organ donation is today considered presumed, since the Cavaillet law of 1976. “Any person is considered to have consented to the donation of organs and tissues after their death as long as they have not made known during their lifetime their refusal to such a donation. can we read on the website of the Biomedicine Agency.
There is a form to download from the site and send to the Agency if you object to any organ removal from your body after your death. And in the event of a simple oral expression of refusal by the deceased, the medical team will ask the relatives to specify the circumstances and to sign the transcription which will be made in writing, but no samples will be taken against the wishes of the relatives of the deceased. the victim.