Neuroethics of death in the United States
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Health Policy, Neurology, Ethical Issues, Legal Issues
- Keywords
- neuroethics, clinical death, vegetative state, brain death, medical ethics, life support, coma, personhood, bioethics
- Copyright
- © 2017 Sifuentes
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2017. Neuroethics of death in the United States. PeerJ Preprints 5:e2890v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2890v1
Abstract
The search for a universal definition of death is a relatively new objective in human history, framed by complex biological, technological, and socio-political factors. While it is widely understood that “life” and “death” describe inverse states of being, what separates these two states has been vigorously debated by scientists, ethicists, and theologians. Far from merely an academic distinction, the definition of death has implications that extend to end-of-life healthcare, organ transplantation, and inheritance law. This review explores the historical and current definitions of death in the United States, the role of technological advances, and the resultant social and legal applications.
Author Comment
This article is a draft of a paper on the neuroethics surrounding the end of life, including a historical and legal review of definitions of death.