Brain death: A response to the commentaries

• Main Author: Singer Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2019-06-01
• Series: Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe)
• Subjects: definition of death; brain death; sanctity of life; organ transplantation; jahi mcmath; ireneusz ziemiński; piotr grzegorz nowak; katarína komenská; ján kalajtzidis; vilius dranseika and ivars neiders
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2019-0007

My recent article, “The challenge of brain death for the sanctity of life ethic” (Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe), 2018, 8 (3–4), pp. 153–165) elicited five commentaries. In this brief response, I clarify my own position in the light of some misunderstandings, and discuss whether the definition of death is best thought of as an ethical question, or as a matter of fact. I also comment on the suggestion that we should allow people to choose the criteria by which they wish their own death to be determined, or their organs removed to be donated to others.