New study expresses ‘grave concerns’ over definition of ‘brain death’

[Michie]

When does the brain die? While the concept of brain death has been widely accepted by medical professionals since the late-1960s, significant questions about its precise nature still remain.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) released “Integrity in the Determination of Brain Death: Recent Challenges and Next Steps” to draw attention to recent events that should give rise to grave concerns and that call on Catholic leaders in the medical and health sectors to bring consistence and clarity on the issue.

There are two ways medical staff can declare someone dead. The most common is known as “circulatory death,” where a person’s heart stops beating and cannot be restarted.

The second method is brain death. This is declared when a person has sustained catastrophic brain injury causing the permanent cessation of all brain function.

However, people who have suffered a “brain death” can still be breathing with support and have a heartbeat. This makes them better options for giving organ transplants, which has caused some doctors to want to modify the description of what causes brain death.

Continued below.

New study expresses ‘grave concerns’ over definition of ‘brain death’

When does the brain die? While the concept of brain death has been widely accepted by medical professionals since the late-1960s, significant questions about its precise nature still remain.

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[o_mlly]

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP a microbiologist, argued against the efficacy of the Harvard protocols to determine death 10 years ago.

In a nutshell, the good Father argues that death occurs when the soul leaves the body, the soul is the animating principle of the body, a body which evidences activity in part for the benefit of the whole is alive. His examples of activities evidencing the presence of a soul are proportionate growth, an immune response, and maintaining homeostasis. Unlike purely physical or chemical reactions, those functions require coordinated responses.

Is the Brain Dead Patient Really Dead?​