II. Death criteria: Their historical development.
1. Cardiopulmonary function.
B. Resuscitative technologies.
1. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
2. Artificial respiration.
1. Harvard brain death criteria.
D. Current use of old death criteria.
1. Do-not-resuscitate orders.
B. Should the person be allowed to die?
1. The right to refuse treatment.
2. Criteria of death statutes.
3. "Right to die" statutes.
A. Aggressive therapy versus prolonged death.
1. Voluntary passive euthanasia.
2. Nonvoluntary passive euthanasia.
3. Voluntary active euthanasia.
4. Patient autonomy.
Brain Death and the Termination of Life
Ideas about death are continually changing. Whereas death was once determined on the basis of heart and lung function, the current focus is on brain activity. With advances in medical technology it has become increasingly possible to sustain life beyond what might be deemed acceptable. Such circumstances have created considerable controversy.
The criteria used to determine whether or not death has actually occurred have changed over the years. Obviously death, itself, has always been defined by its inherent irreversibility. In recent decades, however, the measures used to delineate this irreversible state have undergone significant evolution.
Before about the 1950s, all deaths were established by the following criterion: "cessation of pulse and breathing." With the development of cardiopulmonary resuscitative techniques though, many patients that might have formerly been pronounced dead began to recover. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was developed to treat victims of sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest. With mod...