<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article is a critical commentary on Peter Singer’s thesis that the brain death definition should be replaced by a rule outlining the conditions permitting organ harvesting from patients who are biologically alive but are no longer persons. Largely agreeing with the position, I believe it can be justified not only on the basis of utilitarian arguments, but also those based on Kantian ethics and Christianity. However, due to the lack of reliable methods diagnosing complete and irreversible loss of consciousness, we should refrain from implementing upper brain death into medical practice. Organs also should not be harvested from people in a persistent vegetative state or from anencephalic children, for similar reasons. At the same time, patients who suffered from whole-brain death should not be artificially sustained; in light of current knowledge they can be declared dead and become organ donors.</p></abstract>

The article is a critical commentary on Peter Singer’s thesis that the brain death definition should be replaced by a rule outlining the conditions permitting organ harvesting from patients who are biologically alive but are no longer persons. Largely agreeing with the position, I believe it can be justified not only on the basis of utilitarian arguments, but also those based on Kantian ethics and Christianity. However, due to the lack of reliable methods diagnosing complete and irreversible loss of consciousness, we should refrain from implementing upper brain death into medical practice. Organs also should not be harvested from people in a persistent vegetative state or from anencephalic children, for similar reasons. At the same time, patients who suffered from whole-brain death should not be artificially sustained; in light of current knowledge they can be declared dead and become organ donors.

The ethical problems of death pronouncement and organ donation: A commentary on Peter Singer’s article

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The article is a critical commentary on Peter Singer’s thesis that the brain death definition should be replaced by a rule outlining the conditions permitting...

The ethical problems of death pronouncement and organ donation: A commentary on Peter Singer’s article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 189 - 200

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2018-0014

Keywords
brain death, person, organism, donation, transplantation, Peter Singer

© 2018 Ireneusz Ziemiński, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The ethical problems of death pronouncement and organ donation: A commentary on Peter Singer’s article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 189 - 200

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2018-0014

Keywordsbrain death, person, organism, donation, transplantation, Peter Singer

© 2018 Ireneusz Ziemiński, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
brain death, person, organism, donation, transplantation, Peter Singer