Brain-based Criteria of Human Death. Study of the Issue
In this article I first tried to demonstrate that the theory of so-called brain death is unsustainable from a scientific point of view. +e data that the medical profession provides on this subject clearly contradicts such a theory. It is impossible to prove, on the basis of the knowledge available...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Studia Theologica Varsaviensia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/stv/article/view/7760 |
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| Summary: | In this article I first tried to demonstrate that the theory of so-called brain
death is unsustainable from a scientific point of view. +e data that the medical
profession provides on this subject clearly contradicts such a theory. It is impossible
to prove, on the basis of the knowledge available to this science that
people who are in a state of cerebral death are really dead. +e only thing that
the doctor can say, without exceeding the limits of the discipline he represents,
is that these people have a significant degree of brain damage. +is does not
mean, however, that the brain is so damaged that is has ceased to perform all its functions. On the contrary, these patients usually show many symptoms
of brain activity. Recognition of these sick people as dead, therefore, contradicts
the principles of the medical art.
+e acceptance of the theory of so-called brain death has also given rise
to many problems from the legal point of view. Recognition as a living or deceased
person depends on the criteria for brain death, which vary from country
to country. +e law has therefore become arbitrary in such an important area
as human life and death.
+e adoption of the theory of brain death on the basis of such un-robust
scientific criteria has undoubtedly become possible only through the acceptance
of certain philosophical assumptions that reduce the human to his or her
consciousness. A permanent loss of consciousness was de facto considered to be
evidence of human death. +is position contradicts the achievements of Christian
thought in the field of philosophical anthropology, which emphasises the
unity of the individual and the importance of his or her bodily aspect. What
is even more important, however, is the fact that modern man tends to think
in terms of moral utilitarianism. Many people believe that it is possible to sacrifice
the life of a person who is seriously ill and who has no hope of improvement
(in this case, a person with cerebral death syndrome) for the benefit of other
patients. +is attitude explains the passivity of many circles and the failure
to discuss such an important issue as the rightness or wrongness of the theory
of so-called brain death. It is not without significance that there is a specific
transplant lobby in individual countries, which puts moral pressure on entire
societies to accept the removal of organs for transplantation from people who
are in a state of so-called brain death, and suppresses the discussion of moral
problems associated with it.
It is necessary for the Catholic Church to develop a clear position on this
matter. +is has not yet happened. +ere is even a surprising lack of consensus
among various the authorities. However, some of the hierarchy of the Catholic
Church have already spoken on this matter. +ese include Cardinal Meissner,
Archbishop of Cologne, who clearly rejected the theory of brain death as incompatible
with the principles of the Church’s teaching8'. Pope John Paul II
also wrote in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “Nor can we remain silent about
the existence of other, better camouflaged but no less dangerous forms of euthanasia.
We would be dealing with them, for example, if, in order to obtain moreorgans for transplantation, we proceeded to collect these organs from donors
before they were declared dead according to objective and adequate criteria.”
Although these words do not mention the concept of brain death, they
refer to it indirectly. +is paper was written in order to draw attention to just
such a moral problem hidden in the concept of so-called brain death.
In conclusion, I would like to give the floor to one of the participants
in the discussion on brain death, Dr Tomoko Abe. She wrote: “It is true that
the latest developments in science and technology have brought many benefits.
At the same time, however, they have brought unprecedented confusion in philosophy
and culture to our societies. Due to the destructive tendencies of the
present day, it is becoming increasingly important to establish social standards
to protect the most vulnerable members of society, such as young children and
unconscious patients who cannot defend themselves. We therefore conclude
that the current diagnostic criteria for brain death should be abolished and
that a worldwide ban on transplants from people with cerebral death syndrome
should be introduced.”88
Dr. Abe is not alone in a desire to overthrow the theory of so-called brain
death and to consider its criteria as non-scientific. +e same is demanded by
many other authors. +e voice of the Catholic Church in this matter is undoubtedly
one of the most important. As the greatest authority in the world in matters
of morality and human rights, it cannot fail to explain the issue of so-called
brain death in its teaching.
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| ISSN: | 2956-5197 |