The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801872294 ISBN 13: 9780801872297

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies is the first comprehensive review of the clinical, philosophical, and public policy implications of our effort to redefine the change in status from living person to corpse. It is the result of a collaboration among internationally recognized scholars from the fields of medicine, philosophy, social science, law, and religious studies. Throughout, the contributors struggle to reconcile inconsistencies and gaps in our traditional understanding of death and to respond to the public's concern that, in the determination of death under current policies, patients' interests may be compromised by the demand for organ retrieval.

About this title

About the Author:

Stuart J. Youngner, M.D., is the Susan E. Watson Professor of Bioethics and chairman of the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University. Robert M. Arnold, M.D., is a professor of medicine, the director of the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics, and the Dr. Leo H. Criep Chair in Patient Care at the University of Pittsburgh. Renie Schapiro, M.P.H., is a consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a freelance writer and editor in Madison, Wisconsin.

Review:

"The editors of this important volume are to be congratulated for bringing together such an authoritative group of eminent scholars to discuss and debate every aspect of one of the most challenging medical, philosophical, legal, and religious problems of our time. Together, they have produced an immensely valuable book that will be quoted for years to come, wherever this debate rages―which is everywhere."

(Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D.Yale University School of Medicine, author of How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter )

"A multitude of closely reasoned, well-written essays... required reading."

(Journal of the American Medical Association)

"This is an excellent book... An engaging and fascinating collection of short articles."

(British Medical Journal)

"The authors recognize in their analyses that the definition of death is as much a social or value construct as a scientific one."

(Ethics, Law, and Aging Review)

"This book is an excellent compilation of articles stating the present position in relation to brain death and clearly demonstrates the ethical dilemmas surrounding the concept of death and its determination in practice. It can be wholeheartedly recommended to those interested in brain death from almost any perspective."

(Journal of Medical Ethics)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0801872294
• ISBN 13: 9780801872297
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 372
• Editor: Youngner MD Stuart J., Arnold MD Robert M., Schapiro MPH Renie