Defining death : the case for choice

Resource Information

The work Defining death : the case for choice represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Defining death : the case for choice

Title remainder

the case for choice

Statement of responsibility

by Robert M. Veatch, Lainie F. Ross

Creator

• Veatch, Robert M

Contributor

• Ross, Lainie Friedman

Author

• Ross, Lainie Friedman
• Veatch, Robert M

Subject

• Death
• Death
• HEALTH & FITNESS -- Diseases | General
• MEDICAL -- Clinical Medicine
• MEDICAL -- Ethics
• MEDICAL -- Evidence-Based Medicine
• MEDICAL -- Internal Medicine
• MEDICAL -- Diseases
• Brain death
• Brain death

Language

eng

Summary

For most of human history there was little question about whether someone was dead or alive--a heartbeat or a pulse, or a foggy mirror under the nostrils, provided sufficient evidence. But in the mid-20th century, with new technologies and medical interventions that prolonged the dying process, the questions around the precise moment of death became much more complicated. Today the global medical community recognizes three general definitions of death: whole-brain, circulatory or somatic, and higher-brain. But even in the United States alone no single concept of death has the support of the majority of its citizens. Despite attempts to create and establish a uniform definition of death, physicians and policymakers continue to disagree on criteria and standards--resulting in confusion and acrimony in medicine, law, and insurance, not to mention families gathered around the bedside of a dying loved one. In this brief introduction Veatch and Ross lay out the history of this contentious issue and describe the three major definitions of death in detail. They contend that choosing a particular definition of death reflects an individual's basic religious and philosophical beliefs about what is essential to human existence. So while they propose higher-brain death as a default policy, they argue for some degree of personal choice

Member of

• EBSCO eBook Public Library Collection-North America

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

616.07/8

Index

index present

LC call number

RA1063

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography

NLM call number

W 800