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Chapter 18 - Examining the Continuum of Life to Determine Death

A Jewish Perspective

from II.III - Death and the Brain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2019

Alasdair Coles
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Joanna Collicutt
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Medical and technological advances have enhanced our ability to sustain life, while simultaneously calling into question criteria for determining when life has irrevocably ceased. Controversy surrounding the determination of death, and to what extent irreversible brain damage needs to be established, has continued unabated for more than 50 years, raising concerns as to whether and how it can ever be resolved. These controversies will be discussed in the light of ongoing discussions in the medical literature and Halakha, Jewish legal teachings, on the diagnosis and criteria for death.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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