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Re-examining death: against a higher brain criterion.

¹University of New England, New South Wales, Australia.

Journal of Medical Ethics

|January 15, 2000

Summary

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Redefining death is unnecessary despite medical advances. Current guidelines adequately address care for the permanently unconscious, distinguishing biological death from ontological concepts.

Area of Science:

Medical Ethics
Neuroscience
Philosophy of Medicine

Background:

Advances in medical technology blur the lines between life and death, enabling prolonged support for individuals without consciousness or with whole brain death.
Increasing pressure on healthcare resources necessitates clear definitions and guidelines for end-of-life care.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically evaluate the proposal of redefining death using a higher brain criterion.
To clarify the distinction between biological and ontological concepts of human demise.
To determine the necessity of redefining death for managing treatment decisions for the permanently unconscious.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis of the concepts of death, consciousness, and personhood.
Examination of existing medical and ethical frameworks for end-of-life care.

Keywords:

Analytical Approach Death and Euthanasia

Related Experiment Videos

Argumentative critique of the higher brain criterion for defining death.

Main Results:

The argument for a higher brain criterion conflates biological and ontological aspects of death.
Death is fundamentally a biological phenomenon, precluding a higher brain definition.
Current medical science casts doubt on the justification of whole brain or brain stem criteria for death.

Conclusions:

Redefining death is not required to establish guidelines for treating permanently unconscious individuals.
Existing treatment guidelines are sufficient for addressing the care of the irreversibly unconscious.
Focus should remain on applying current ethical and medical standards rather than altering the definition of death.