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Critical Care
Published in: Critical Care 2/2007

01-04-2007 | Review

Bench-to-bedside review: When is dead really dead – on the legitimacy of using neurologic criteria to determine death

Author: Leslie M Whetstine

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 2/2007

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Abstract

This review explores the legitimacy of the whole brain death (WBD) criterion. I argue that it does not fulfill the traditional biologic definition of death and is, therefore, an unsound clinical and philosophical criterion for death. I dispute whether the clinical tests used to diagnose WBD are sufficient to prove all critical brain functions have ceased, as well as examine the sets of brain functions that persist in many WBD patients. I conclude that the definition of death must be modified from a biologic to an ontologic model if we intend to maintain the WBD criterion.
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Whetstine LM: An examination of the bio-philosophical literature on the definition and criteria of death; when is dead 'dead' and why some donation after cardiac death donors are not. PhD thesis. Duquesne University; 2006.
Metadata
Title
Bench-to-bedside review: When is dead really dead – on the legitimacy of using neurologic criteria to determine death
Author
Leslie M Whetstine
Publication date
01-04-2007
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 2/2007
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc5690

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