February 18, 1982
Dear Mr. Denny:
The crux of the Uniform Determination of Death Act is the scientific procedures used to determine "total brain death". The law is wisely silent on these techniques.
Since your visit here we have not been idle.  I have prepared a decision memorandum in reference to liver transplantation in children and it may well be that after consultations next week we may go so far as to have a consensus conference on liver transplantation using cyclosporin A as an immuno suppressant.
There are still unanswered questions about cyclosporin A having to do with its availability, its ultimate safety, and fast tracking it through FDA.
The bottom line in all of these discussions here has been what can this office do to help transplanters obtain necessary organs in a viable state and how can we aid this process and prevent abuse of the process at the same time.
I would appreciate a call from you some time at your convenience so that we might discuss some of your thoughts on organ procurement that will naturally come up as we get deeper into our discussions of funding transplantation of the liver and achieving a lower rejection rate in renal transplantations.
Sincerely yours,
C. Everett Koop, M.D.
Surgeon General