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Series:   Elements in Bioethics and Neuroethics

Philosophical, Medical, and Legal Controversies About Brain Death

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2024

L. Syd M Johnson
L. Syd M Johnson
Affiliation:
Suny Upstate Medical University

Summary

This Element considers current legal, ethical, metaphysical, and medical controversies concerning brain death. It examines the implicit metaphysical and moral commitments and dualism implied by neurological criteria for death. When these commitments and worldview are not shared by patients and surrogates, they give rise to distrust in healthcare providers and systems, and to injustice, particularly when medicolegal definitions of death are coercively imposed on those who reject them. Ethical obligations to respect persons and patient autonomy, promote patient-centered care, foster and maintain trust, and respond to the demands of justice provide compelling ethical reasons for recognizing reasonable objections. Each section illustrates how seemingly academic debates about brain death have real, on-the-ground implications for patients and their families.
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Keywords

brain deathdeathlawbioethicsmedicine
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Bioethics and Neuroethics
Online ISBN: 9781009323352
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 21 March 2024

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