Death Determination by Neurologic Criteria: Areas of Consensus and Controversy

ISBN-13: 9783031159466 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023 / 498 str.

Ariane Lewis; James L. Bernat

Opis

This book presents principal controversies over the determination of death by neurologic criteria (“brain death”). The editors and authors are exceedingly well-versed in this subject and are on the forefront of the current debates. The content is divided in the following disciplinary: philosophical (conceptual), medical, scientific, legal, religious, and ethical/social. Many of the topics feature pro-con debates, allowing readers to consider the merits of the arguments and decide their own position. The work is targeted to clinicians and nurses who treat critically ill and dying patients, organ donation personnel, ethicists and philosophers who write on end-of-life issues, and lawyers and legislative/public policy professionals who draft laws on death determination. It identifies and debates the essential controversies currently raging in academic and public policy circles over the medical adequacy, scientific validity, and conceptual coherence of death determination by neurologic criteria. Whether a professional or a student, the reader will be given a comprehensive course in the most pressing controversies and areas of consensus in the determination of death by neurologic criteria.

Spis treści

1. Historical Introduction, James Bernat and Ariane Lewis

Conceptual Issues

2. Arguments Supporting Neurologic Criteria to Determine Death

3. Arguments Rejecting Neurologic Criteria to Determine Death

4. Arguments Supporting the Whole-Brain Criterion

5. Arguments Supporting the Brainstem Criterion

6. What Provisions Belong in a Statute on Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria?

7. Preserved Hypothalamic Function is Not Consistent with the Whole-Brain Criterion for Death

8. Preserved Hypothalamic Function Does Not Preclude Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria 

9. Does Death Determination by Neurologic Criteria Require Irreversible or Permanent Cessation of Brain Functions?

Medical Issues

10. Intra/International Variability in the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria

11. Overcoming Challenges in the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria in Pediatric Patients

12. Arguments in Favor of Requiring the Absence of Brain Circulation to Determine Death by Neurologic Criteria

13. Arguments Opposing the Requirement to Demonstrate Absence of Brain Circulation to Determine Death by Neurologic Criteria 

14. Reports of “Recovery” from Death by Neurologic Criteria

15. Observation Time Prior to Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria

16. Temperature Considerations in the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria

17. How Many Evaluations are Required to Determine Death by Neurologic Criteria?

Scientific Issues

18. Research Questions to Inform the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria

19. Research on the Newly Deceased Following Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria

Legal Issues

20. U.S. State Laws on the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria

21. Is Consent Required for Clinicians to Make a Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria?

22. Legal Response to Religious and Other Objections to Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria 

23. Is Death by Neurologic Criteria a Legal Fiction or Status?

24. Legal Considerations on the Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria in the Pregnant Patient

Religious Issues

25. Christian Perspectives on Death by Neurologic Criteria

26. Islamic Perspectives on Death by Neurologic Criteria

27. Jewish Perspectives on Death by Neurologic Criteria

Ethical and Social Issues

28. Public Views on Death by Neurologic Criteria

29. Cultural Considerations in the Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria in Asia

30. Cultural Considerations in the Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria in Africa

31. The Argument for Personal Choice in Determining Death

32. The Distinction Between Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria and Declaration of Death

33. Why Families Object to Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria

34. Arguments Favoring Continuation of “Organ Support” when Families Object to Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria

35. Arguments Opposing Continuation of Organ Support when Families Object to Declaration of Death by Neurologic Criteria

O autorze

Dr. Ariane Lewis is Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Director of Neurocritical Care at NYU Langone Medical Center.  She served on the Steering Committee for the World Brain Death Project. She was an observer on the Uniform Law Commission Study Committee and Drafting Committee on Updating the Uniform Determination of Death Act and an International Advisor to the Canadian Critical Care Society Definition and Determination of Death Committee.  She was Past-Chair of the Neurocritical Care Society Ethics Committee and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology Ethics, Law and Humanities Committee and the American Academy of Neurology Brain Death Working Group. She was recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a Fellow of the Neurocritical Care Society for her clinical and scholarly leadership in neurology and neurocritical care.

James L. Bernat, M.D. is Professor of Neurology, Active Emeritus at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine where he has been Professor for 33 years. Formerly, he was the Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neuroscience at Dartmouth. He is the former Chair of the American Academy of Neurology Ethics, Law & Humanities Committee. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the Hastings Center. He served as an observer on the Uniform Law Commission Study Committee and Drafting Committee to update the Uniform Determination of Death Act. His principal book is Ethical Issues in Neurology, 3rd ed. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008). Over the past 40 years, he has authored numerous articles and chapters on death determination by neurological criteria and the definition of death.