The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies - Hardcover

9780801859854: The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801859859 ISBN 13: 9780801859854

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999

The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies is the first comprehensive review of the clinical, philosophical, and public policy implications of our effort to redefine the change in status from living person to corpse. It is the result of a collaboration among internationally recognized scholars from the fields of medicine, philosophy, social science, law, and religious studies. Throughout, the contributors struggle to reconcile inconsistencies and gaps in our traditional understanding of death and to respond to the public's concern that, in the determination of death under current policies, patients' interests may be compromised by the demand for organ retrieval.

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Review:

"The editors of this important volume are to be congratulated for bringing together such an authoritative group of eminent scholars to discuss and debate every aspect of one of the most challenging medical, philosophical, legal, and religious problems of our time. Together, they have produced an immensely valuable book that will be quoted for years to come, wherever this debate rages -- which is everywhere." -- Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D.Yale University School of Medicine, author of How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter

Synopsis:

Our changing moral and legal attitudes towards end-of-life decisions and an increasing recognition of cultural diversity (many Orthodox Jews, for example, do not accept loss of brain function as a valid measure of death) have also challenged the apparent social concensus about death. This text offers a comprehensive review of the clinical, philosophical and public policy implications of our effort to redefine the change in status from living person to corpse. The book is the result of a collaboration among internationally recognized scholars from the fields of medicine, philosophy, social science, law and religious studies. Throughout, the contributors struggle to reconcile inconsistencies and gaps in our traditional understanding of death and to respond to the public's concern that, in the determination of death under current policies, patients' interests may be compromised by the demand for organ retrieval.

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