ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses questions which medical ethics faces and gives some account of how society responds to these in the legal system. It considers the question of human identity. In 1976, British medical authorities issued a statement giving advice on ways of diagnosing brain death. As medical science and technology advance, the physiological and neurological functions which stimulate and sustain life can be maintained where otherwise they would fail and the patient die. In 1986, Karen Grandstrand Gervais challenged the view that death is simply a question of biological definitions. Her analysis gained impetus from the fact that brainstem death was finding acceptance as a definition of death in the law courts of the United States of America. The doctor in charge of Anthony Bland contacted the coroner charged with dealing with cases arising from the Hillsborough disaster, and was advised that a course of action might result in criminal proceedings.
