Taking Science Seriously in the Debate on Death and Organ Transplantation

Hastings Cent Rep. 2015 Nov-Dec;45(6):38-48. doi: 10.1002/hast.459. Epub 2015 Jun 17.

Abstract

The effort to develop international guidelines for determination of death purports to start with an objective examination of the biology of death. So far, however, it is showing once again how moral and metaphysical claims about death masquerade as scientific facts.

MeSH terms

  • Advisory Committees
  • Brain Death / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Brain Death / physiopathology*
  • Concept Formation*
  • Consciousness*
  • Death
  • Dissent and Disputes
  • Electroencephalography
  • Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory
  • Humans
  • Internationality
  • Neurophysiology
  • Neurosecretion
  • Organ Transplantation / ethics*
  • Organ Transplantation / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic
  • Public Policy* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Public Policy* / trends
  • Tissue and Organ Harvesting / ethics*
  • Tissue and Organ Harvesting / legislation & jurisprudence
  • United States