Death: Beyond Whole-Brain Criteria

Whole-brain death reconsidered.

The author, a philosopher, suggests that the concept of death should be left as it is 'in its present indeterminate state', and that we ought to reject attempts to define death in terms of whole-brain death or any other type of brain death, including cerebral death and 'irreversible coma'. Instead of 'fiddling with the definition of death' clear rules should be established specifying 'what can ...

Temperature and brain death determination: need for updated criteria

As noted by Greer and colleagues, the birth of the brain death concept dates back to the 1959 report by Mollaret and Goulon on 23 comatose patients. Since that time, new and better criteria for the determination of brain death have developed, as well new technologies that assess brain function, including the use PET imaging to confirm the clinical diagnosis for brain death. Although other new a...

Brain death criteria formulated for transplantation purposes: fact or myth?

Medical progress has moved the boundaries of life that were set many centuries ago. The development of medical techniques has allowed us to witness cases that were unknown prior to the introduction of reanimation procedures and mechanical ventilation. Towards the end of the 1950s, the term "irreversible coma" was coined, and has evolved into what is currently known as the "brain death" concept....

The Clinical Criteria of Brain Death throughout the World*

The use of neurological criteria of death rather than cardiorespiratory criteria of death is a fascinating chapter in the history of medicine and neurology [1]. This paradigm change came when patients with an acute brain injury could be resuscitated in emergency departments and intensive care units and survived. Apnea would not lead to asystole and the brain lesion could go on to further cause ...

In defense of whole-brain definitions of death.