Decapitation and the definition of death

Journal of Medical Ethics
Franklin G Miller, Robert D Truog

Abstract

Although established in the law and current practice, the determination of death according to neurological criteria continues to be controversial. Some scholars have advocated return to the traditional circulatory and respiratory criteria for determining death because individuals diagnosed as 'brain dead' display an extensive range of integrated biological functioning with the aid of mechanical ventilation. Others have attempted to refute this stance by appealing to the analogy between decapitation and brain death. Since a decapitated animal is obviously dead, and 'brain death' represents physiological decapitation, brain dead individuals must be dead. In this article we refute this 'decapitation gambit.' We argue that decapitated animals are not necessarily dead, and that, moreover, the analogy between decapitation and the clinical syndrome of brain death is flawed.

Citations

Oct 11, 2012·Journal of Biomedical Semantics·Filipe SantanaDaniel Schober
Mar 30, 2013·Critical Care Clinics·Alberto Orioles, Wynne E Morrison
Feb 22, 2012·Transplant International : Official Journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation·Philipp StieglerKarlheinz Tscheliessnigg
Dec 1, 2014·QJM : Monthly Journal of the Association of Physicians·G M SchofieldG Giamas
Aug 3, 2014·Journal of Critical Care·Eran Segal
Jan 21, 2014·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Stephen HollandJenny Kitzinger
May 21, 2020·The Linacre Quarterly·James L Bernat
Oct 10, 2021·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Ari R JoffeAllan R de Caen

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