Definitions of Death

Paper Summary:

Most people accept that when the heart stops beating, a person dies. This paper examines the controversies surrounding the proclaiming of a patient dead and what exactly constitutes "dead". It looks at the question of death in relation to organ transplant, molecular death, brain death as a determining factor and future medical expectations.

From the Paper:

"Questions of how to precisely determine death, and what criteria to use have an impact today in terms of organ transplantation. For optimal post-transplant function, the sooner an organ is harvested from a donor after brain death, the more likely it is to survive in the recipient. With brain dead patients, the body can be kept on life support systems which maintain respiration and circulation, ensuring the organs to be donated are oxygenated, and blood clots do not form within the organs. Patients whose circulation has ceased are of no use as organ donors since tissue damage will have occurred once circulation stopped. However, even with a brain dead person on life support, the quality of the organs deteriorates with time and lessens their use as donor organs. Rapid decisions need to be made regarding organ donation."

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