Controversy over brain death

Abstract

This article examines the elements of the current discussion concerning the determination of death an studies the increasing concern whit the identification of brain death and the person’s death. Above all it considers the development of ideas about the diagnosis of death and compares the cardiopulmonary death to the variations of brain death: Total brain death, base brain death neocortical death.

It also distinguishes components of each position and offers a classification of the current definitions of death, upon revision of the most meaningful criticism that each of them as received. Thirdly, it studies the current discrepancies over brain death to examine the difficulties that have arisen in the medical field, which are generally the consequence of the carelessness of some philosophical concepts. In summary, there has been analysis on three of the most important criticisms of brain death since 1968: the ones carried out by H. Jonas, P. Byrne and J. Seifert. Finally, it deals with the current debate on the possibility of abandoning the idea of brain death, beginning with the declaration of the Danish Committee of Ethics and studying its influence on authors like S. Youngner, R. Truog or A. Shewmon.