Machado C

Language: English
References: 0
Page: 40
PDF size: 75.70 Kb.

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Death—its essence, moment and certainty—has riveted the attention of religion, philosophy and science throughout the ages. To this day, debates among proponents of one definition or another are reflected in popular culture, belief systems and language itself.
In the mid-20^th Century, however, a revolution occurred in the definition of death, provoked by the ethical and medical dilemmas inherent in the innovation of intensive care life-support mechanisms and the advent of organ transplantation involving cadaveric donors. Since then, global discussion has focused on the neurological: what part of the brain must be declared irreversibly dysfunctional for an individual’s death to be declared?