Robert spaemann brain death test

  • This article presents Robert Spaemann's philosophical case that “brain death” suffices neither as a definition of death nor as the sole criterion of death.
  • Professor Robert Spaemann makes a number of criticisms of the practice of diagnosing death by the brain criterion.
  • This paper critically re-evaluates the clinical test-criteria for “brain death,” taking into account what is known about the neuro-critical care of severe brain.

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    Abstract

    The “brain death” standard as a criterion of death is closely associated with the need for transplantable organs from heart-beating donors. Are all of these potential donors really dead, or does the documented evidence of patients destined for organ harvesting who improve, or even recover to live normal lives, call into question the premise underlying “brain death”? The aim of this paper is to re-examine the notion of “brain death,” especially its clinical test-criteria, in light of a broad framework, including medical knowledge in the field of neuro-intensive care and the traditional ethics of the medical profession. I will argue that both the empirical medical evidence and the ethics of the doctor–patient relationship point to an alternative approach toward the severely comatose patient (potential brain-dead donor).

    Lay Summary: Though legally accepted and widely practiced, the “brain death” standard for the determination of death has remained a controversial issue,

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    'Brain Death' Is Not Death

    by Paul A. Byrne, MD

    Descriptive Title

    Brain Death Is Not Death

    Description

    At a February meeting of the pontifikal Academy of Sciences, physicians and ethicists questioned the medical protocols for determining that a potential organ donor is dead. Paul A. Byrne, Cicero G. Coimbra, Robert Spaemann, and Mercedes Arzu Wilson make a powerful case against the "brain death" criteria. This essay concludes with thirteen guiding principles.

    Larger Work

    Catholic World Report, The

    Pages

    54 - 58

    Publisher & Date

    Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, March 2005

    On February 3-4, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the World Organization for the Family, hosted a meeting at the Vatican entitled "The Signs of Death." This essay is based on the papers that were submitted to the Pontifical Academy as well as the discussions that took place during those two days.

    The meeting was convened at the request of Pope John Paul II to reassess

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    Abstract

    Questions of life and death are primarily philosophical questions, as philosopher Robert Spaemann argues. Spaemann argues that “brain death” is philosophically unsatisfactory as a definition of death, and as the exclusive criterion for determining death, for two main reasons: first, because it attempts to annul the basic perceptions of the ordinary person in regard to death. Second, because the cause of life and unity in a living being cannot be reduced to the brain. This essay is an explication of Spaemann’s contribution to the “brain death” question, which consists in illuminating the philosophical issues at stake.

    Summary:

    This article presents Robert Spaemann’s philosophical case that “brain death” suffices neither as a definition of death nor as the sole criterion of death.

    Keywords: Brain death, Epistemology, Human person, John Paul II, Metaphysics, Robert Spaemann

    The Christian physician has a paradoxical relation to death. On the one hand, seen from the pers

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