Brain death--an opposing viewpoint
P. A. Byrne, S. O'Reilly and P. M. Quay
Recent and proposed legislation to establish "brain-related" criteria of
death has uniformly confounded irreversible cessation of total brain
function with the death of the human person. Much of the confusion comes
from widespread misunderstanding of how the word "death" is used and what
it means. Cessation of total brain function, whether irreversible or not,
is not necessarily linked to total destruction of the brain or to the death
of the person. Further, to take vital organs or to otherwise treat people
as though they were dead already on the basis of these recent criteria is
morally unacceptable to most Orthodox Jews and Christians.
