The Code of Practice 2025 and the medicolegal definition of death

In January 2025 the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges published an updated Code of Practice for the Diagnosis and Confirmation of Death, the first major update for 17 years. It represents the authoritative medical consensus on the diagnosis and confirmation of death in all contexts (and in all age groups) in the UK. This paper reviews the new Code, highlighting the major updates from the 2008 guidance and their relevance for intensive care clinicians. It goes on to explore the wider legal history and context, in particular the role that previous versions of the Academy’s guidelines have played during the emergence of a common law definition of death. It examines the important legal cases in which the Code of Practice was endorsed and ultimately adopted by the courts as the definitive medical and legal definition of death in the UK.