Section 1: Determination of death prior to sampling and conditions for taking samples

If the person is in persistent cardiac and respiratory arrest, death can only be established if the following three clinical criteria are simultaneously present: 1° Total absence of consciousness and spontaneous motor activity; 2° Abolition of all brain stem reflexes; 3° Total absence of spontaneous ventilation.

If the person, whose death is clinically confirmed, is assisted by mechanical ventilation and retains haemodynamic function, the absence of spontaneous ventilation is verified by a hypercapnia test. Furthermore, in addition to the three clinical criteria mentioned in article R. 1232-1, the irreversible nature of the encephalic destruction is confirmed by: 1° Either two null and reactive electroencephalograms performed at an interval of at least four hours, with maximum amplification…

The death certificate referred to in article L. 1232-1 is drawn up on a document, the model for which is set by order of the Minister for Health. When the death certificate is drawn up for a person in persistent cardiac and respiratory arrest, the report shall indicate the results of the clinical findings and the date and time of the death certificate. The report must be drawn up and…

The doctor or doctors who sign the death certificate keep a copy. One copy is given to the director of the health establishment in which the death certificate was drawn up. The original is kept in the deceased’s medical file.

Organs may only be removed from a deceased person if that person is assisted by mechanical ventilation and retains haemodynamic function. However, organs from a list established by order of the Minister of Health, made on the recommendation of the Biomedicine Agency, may be removed from a deceased person with persistent cardiac and respiratory arrest.

The samples referred to in the second paragraph of Article R. 1232-4-1 are taken in accordance with protocols issued by the Agence de la biomédecine. These protocols determine in particular the situations in which these samples may be taken and the conditions under which they are taken.

The medical measures taken prior to removal to ensure the preservation of the organs of a person whose death has been duly confirmed shall be discontinued if it appears that this person had expressed opposition to organ donation during his or her lifetime under the conditions laid down in Section 2 of this Chapter.