ABSTRACT
‘The autopsy showed a shrunken brain with atrophied cerebral hemispheres transformed into thin-walled yellow-brown bags. The brainstem concept of death, which has been advocated throughout this text, maintains that bodily integration, which is dependent upon a viable brainstem, is constitutive of human life. Discussions in the press and elsewhere have expressed concern over the cost of caring for brain-damaged patients. However, there is a vast difference between the cost of management of brain-dead ex-patients and those in a vegetative state. The more severe forms of the vegetative state have been equated by some, with the death of the person. Uncertainty regarding criteria for determining the loss of hemispheric functions – for instance, the limited reliability of the electroencelphalogram as a positive indicator – suggest that redefinitions of death in this direction run into serious risks of confusing criteria for euthanasia with criteria for diagnosing death.
