Introduction

The final stage of life is, of course, death. Traditionally death has been ‘the topic that should not be discussed’, and it received little academic or media attention. That is changing with popular books being written about death, a rapid growth in academic studies of death, and a wide-ranging public debate over the right to die.

This chapter will start by exploring the definition of death, a hotly disputed issue. The definition of death reflects debates about what it means to be alive. There are, therefore, echoes of the debates over when life begins, discussed in Chapter 3. Here, the legal approach will be compared with the philosophical and sociological literature on the nature of death. The chapter will then turn to issues over a right to die and responses to suicide.

Disputes over the definition of death

There is a lively debate over the definition of death. At first that might seem surprising. Surely, such a foundational concept would have a clearly agreed definition? So, it is helpful first to clarify why the definition of death has proved controversial. There are three primary reasons.

First, technologies have developed so that people can be kept ‘alive’ in ways which would have been unimaginable even a few decades ago. Most biological functions can now be performed by mechanical devices. The idea of a person being kept alive forever, which at one time would have been laughable, now seems more plausible. This, then, raises the issue of what kind of prolonged existence might count as being kept alive, as opposed to ‘keeping a corpse warm’.

Second, the issue of when a person dies has some practical significance. In the past it was notable that the primary debates surrounding death in England were theological and concerned when a soul was thought to leave the body, that being the key issue of interest. Now, the time of death has huge significance in the area of organ transplantation. If an organ is to be useable for transplant it is important it is as ‘fresh’ as possible. That means that it must be removed as soon after death as possible. But that then raises the question: when does death occur? Such is the practical significance of this that some commentators have suggested it might be helpful to separate out the questions of generally when a person is deemed to be dead and when organs can be removed.