Brain-Dead Patients are not Cadavers: The Need to Revise the Definition of Death in Muslim Communities
نویسندگان
چکیده
The utilitarian construct of two alternative criteria of human death increases the supply of transplantable organs at the end of life. Neither the neurological criterion (heart-beating donation) nor the circulatory criterion (non-heart-beating donation) is grounded in scientific evidence but based on philosophical reasoning. A utilitarian death definition can have unintended consequences for dying Muslim patients: (1) the expedited process of determining death for retrieval of transplantable organs can lead to diagnostic errors, (2) the equivalence of brain death with human death may be incorrect, and (3) end-of-life religious values and traditional rituals may be sacrificed. Therefore, it is imperative to reevaluate the two different types and criteria of death introduced by the Resolution (Fatwa) of the Council of Islamic Jurisprudence on Resuscitation Apparatus in 1986. Although we recognize that this Fatwa was based on best scientific evidence available at that time, more recent evidence shows that it rests on outdated knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of human death. We recommend redefining death in Islam to reaffirm the singularity of this biological phenomenon as revealed in the Quran 14 centuries ago.
منابع مشابه
آموزش؛ حلقه طلایی رفع چالشهای پرستاران در فرایند مراقبت از بیماران مرگ مغزی
Statistics show that brain death constitutes 1-4% of hospital deaths and 10% of the deaths occurred at the intensive care units (1). In the United States, brain death accounts for less than 1% of all deaths (about 15000 to 20000) (2). According to Iranian statistics, more than 15000 brain deaths occur every year in Iran, and driving accidents are one of its main causes (3-6). Then, these patien...
متن کاملمطالعهی مرگ مغزی از منظر فقه و حقوق جزا
Brain death is a subject in our society which can be mistaken with coma or other types of life status similar to death. To assess the legal status of a brain dead patient, it is necessary to determine whether a person afflicted with brain death is dead or alive. Do they meet the criteria for biological death? Or in precise words, do Islamic laws for the dead apply to them? Several questions ari...
متن کاملنقدی بر موضوع شناسی مرگ مغزی از دیدگاه لغوی، فقهی و پزشکی
More than half a century has passed since the onset of successful life-saving and at times astonishing transplantations of organs from brain dead donors, numerous books and articles have been written on the subject, and local, regional and international meetings and conferences have been held. Nevertheless, no consensus has yet been reached among scholars of various fields such as medical scien...
متن کاملLegal Basis for Donating Organs for Brain Death Patients
Brain death involves the complete and irreversible destruction of brain activity characterized by profound coma, apnea and the absence of all brainstem reflexes. The issue of organ transplantation is a very important issue in the field of jurisprudence and law in addition to being one of the issues to be considered and analyzed in the medical world, especially in jurisprudence and the issue has...
متن کاملBrain death: recent ethical and religious considerations in Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of medicine. The principles derived from core Islamic teachings provide a comprehensive moral, ethical, and legal framework for the practice of medicine. The issue of brain death has significant impact on the procurement of organs from cadavers. It is a major subject of debate and interest to bioscientists, legal experts, religious scholars, and t...
متن کامل