Organtransplantation und Todesfeststellung
Ausgabe: 2/2012
58. Jahrgang
Grauzonen zwischen Leben und Tod. Ein Plädoyer für mehr Ehrlichkeit in der Debatte um das Hirntod-Kriterium
With the introduction of the »decision model« (a version of the informed consent model of organ donation) in Germany, a resurgence of public interest in ethical aspects of organ transplantation is to be expected. Newly voiced doubts about the validity of total brain failure as a criterion for death may lead to further controversy. We draw attention to deficits in the current education and information policy, discuss the relevance of recent empirical findings for the old question whether braindead patients are really dead or rather dying, consider possible implications for the current practice of harvesting organs from braindead patients, and develop a number of concrete proposals for public education campaigns on organ transplantation that do not simply brush aside the difficulties and ambiguities in the determination of death. Our central thesis is that brain dead patients are irreversibly dying; explantation of organs may be ethically justifiable nevertheless when valid consent has been obtained from the donor or relevant others.
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