AI Article Synopsis
- Part one of the series examined how the process of determining death has remained consistent over the last century, despite advancements in medical technology and evolving social norms.
- Part two explores the ethical and practical challenges in defining the exact moment of death, focusing on the common use of irreversible cessation of heart and lung function as a criterion.
- The issue of autoresuscitation complicates this, as some patients who appear to be clinically dead can unexpectedly recover, raising questions about whether the criteria for determining death were applied correctly.
Article Abstract
Part one of this series tracked the evolution of the death examination, noting its stability over the last century despite changing diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and social contexts. In part two, we discuss the practical and ethical debates surrounding the exact timing of death. Although the irreversible cessation of cardiopulmonary systems remains the most common criteria used for the determination of death, identification of the moment of irreversibility is imprecise. In most cases, this imprecision is not problematic, but, when the cessation of circulation is used to identify the time of organ procurement for transplantation, it becomes critical. The phenomenon of autoresuscitation highlights these issues because patients who meet all the criteria for circulatory death (sometimes for periods of observation well beyond the norm) apparently return to life. Were these patients resurrected (like Lazarus) or did we simply not wait long enough?
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2021.08.064 | DOI Listing |
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