What is Brain Death?
Watch CNN Correspondent and Neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta describe how doctors determine brain death:
Jahi McMath and the Right to Live
Click the link to read a well-balanced review on death and the Jahi McMath case:
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17635098/jahi-mcmath-2018-brain-death-definition
Covers the President’s Commission on Medical Ethics development of the 1981 Uniform Determination of Death Act, which defines death as the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory function, or, irreversible cessation of brain function, including the brain stem. Given the controversy and lack of a uniform consensus, Robert Veatch, a clinical ethicist in DC, argues that leaving the decision up to the family could be the right way to go.
Read the article or listen to the audio link for an in-depth review of the controversial Jahi McMath case:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/what-does-it-mean-to-die
Introducing the Concept of Futility
Read the transcript or watch the following video by Arthur L Caplan of the New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center’s Division of Medical Ethics about whether keeping patients alive a few weeks longer is futile:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/773985
The key is what the goals are in prolonging a patient’s life marginally (e.g. attending grandchild’s graduation or wedding) and being up front that the treatment will not affect life expectancy or prognosis overall.
References:
CNN. (2014, January 6). Brain dead: What it is, What it isn’t. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8IOJLFH9f4
Viswanathan, R. (2018, August 6). There’s a surprisingly rich debate about how to define death. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17635098/jahi-mcmath-2018-brain-death-definition
Aviv, R. (2018, January 29). What Does It Mean to Die? Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/what-does-it-mean-to-die
Caplan, AL. (2012, November 15). Keeping Patients Alive a Few More Weeks: Is It Futile Care? Retrieved from https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/773985