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Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness pp 51–59Cite as

The Conceptual Basis for Brain Death Revisited

Loss of organic integration or loss of consciousness?

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 550))

Abstract

When a neurological criterion for determining death was formally introduced in the recommendation of the 1968 Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School, the conceptual basis for accepting the criterion was unclear.1 As Martin Pernick notes, the Committee shifted back and forth between endorsing the loss of consciousness, as opposed to the loss of bodily integration, as the conceptual foundation for the new criterion that the Committee eventually proposed.2 Indeed, the Committee’s characterization of the criterion as “irreversible coma” reflected this ambiguity, as the term had been used in the past to describe the condition of individuals in deep coma or persistent vegetative state.3 In fact, although the Committee proposed a new criterion for determining death, it had little to say about the definition or concept of death for which the criterion was proposed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA, 19530, USA

    John P. Lizza Ph.D.

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  1. John P. Lizza Ph.D.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Havana, Cuba

    Calixto Machado

  2. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA

    D. Alan Shewmon

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Lizza, J.P. (2004). The Conceptual Basis for Brain Death Revisited. In: Machado, C., Shewmon, D.A. (eds) Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 550. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48526-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48526-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0976-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48526-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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