On February 7, 2008, Michael DeVita, MD, and Professor of Critical Care Medicine, presented the topic "Caring for Organs or Patients", a lecture sponsored by Pitt's Center for Bioethics and Health Law. He addressed the recent changes in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) that occassionally has caused conflicts between patients' end-of-life care and management of organ donation before and after cessation of heart function. Death certified on the basis of cardiac death creates greater problems of urgency for organ recovery than does death based on cessation of all functions of the brain. In the latter case, the heart continues to beat if the lungs are artificially ventilated and donated organs can be recovered while still kept functioning by continued blood circulation. Obviously, this is not the case when death is certified after final cardiac arrest, making it possible to recover suitable organs for transplantation only during a very short time period. Dr. DeVita addressed the potential ethical and legal conflicts facing ICU physicians and nurses, as well as the transplant surgeons, when obtaining organs from the non-heart-beating donors. On February 21st, The University Times published a full page article reporting on Dr. DeVita's very well received presentation of this controversial subject.