Beyond Brain Death, 2000
The Case Against Brain Based Criteria for Human Death
Philosophy and Medicine Series, Vol. 66

Beyond Brain Death offers a provocative challenge to one of the most widely accepted conclusions of contemporary bioethics: the position that brain death marks the death of the human person. Eleven chapters by physicians, philosophers, and theologians present the case against brain-based criteria for human death. Each author believes that this position calls into question the moral acceptability of the transplantation of unpaired vital organs from brain-dead patients who have continuing function of the circulatory system. One strength of the book is its international approach to the question: contributors are from the United States, the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, and Japan. This book will appeal to a wide audience, including physicians and other health care professionals, philosophers, theologians, medical sociologists, and social workers.

Preface and Acknowledgments. Introduction: Beyond Brain Death; M. Potts, et al. Brain Death - The Patient, the Physician, and Society; P.A. Byrne, et al. Metaphysical Misgivings about `Brain Death'; D.A. Jones, O.P. Pro-Life Support of the Whole Brain Death Criteria: A Problem of Consistency; M. Potts. The Demise of `Brain Death' in Britain; D.W. Evans. Brain Stem Death: A United Kingdom Anaesthetist's View; D.J. Hill. Brain Death and Cardiac Transplantation: Historical Background and Unsettled Controversies in Japan; Y. Watanabe. Philosophical and Cultural Attitudes Against Brain Death and Organ Transplantation in Japan; T. Abe. Brain Death and Euthanasia; J. Seifert. The Moment of Death and the Morally Safer Path; M. Haverland. A Narrative Case Against Brain Death; M. Evans, M. Potts. Organ Transplantation, Brain Death, and the Slippery Slope: A Neurosurgeon's Perspective. Notes on Contributors. Index of Subjects. Index of Names.