The Death Debate: Penumbra Conundrum

Implications of ischemic penumbra for the diagnosis of brain death.

The data reviewed here suggest the possibility that a global reduction of blood supply to the whole brain or solely to the infratentorial structures down to the range of ischemic penumbra for several hours or a few days may lead to misdiagnosis of irreversible brain or brain stem damage in a subset of deeply comatose patients with cephalic areflexia. The following proposals are advanced: 1) the...

Death with dignity: the debate in England

The concept articulated in the title of this conference, ‘death with dignity’ can have many interpretations, which is of course why there is so much debate on a subject that at first sight would appear to be uncontroversial. All participants in the debate will agree that death with dignity is a good to be aspired to for everyone but what is not universally agreed is how death with dignity can b...

The debate about death: an imperishable discussion?

In this concise review we discuss some of the complex edges of the concept of death that arose after the notorious advances in science and medicine over the last 50 years, in which the classical cardio-pulmonary criteria have led to the neurological criteria of death. New complicated questions like the definition of death and the operational criteria for diagnosing it have arisen and we think t...

“Almost Bleeding to Death”: The Conundrum of Acquired Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia

Acquired amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (AAT) is a rare hematological disorder causing severe thrombocytopenia and bleeding. Previous in vitro studies postulated both cell-mediated suppression of megakaryocytopoiesis in early megakaryocytic progenitor cells and humoral-mediated suppression by anti-thrombopoietin antibodies as possible etiologies of AAT. Patients with AAT usually present with ...

THE CONUNDRUM OF EUTHANASIA