Source: Big Think
Most countries define death, clinically speaking, as the irreversible loss of brain or circulatory function. This definition was already at odds with some folk- and value-centric understandings, but where do we go if it becomes possible to reverse clinical death with artificial perfusion?
“This is wild,” Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times. “If ever there was an issue that merited big public deliberation on the ethics of science and medicine, this is one.”
One possible consequence involves organ donations. Some European countries require emergency responders to use a process that preserves organs when they cannot resuscitate a person. They continue to pump blood throughout the body, but use a “thoracic aortic occlusion balloon” to prevent that blood from reaching the brain.
The system is already controversial because it raises concerns about what caused the patient’s death. But what happens when brain death becomes readily reversible? Stuart Younger, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University, told Nature that…
The post Longer lifespans: A coming crisis or reason to celebrate? appeared first on FeedBox.