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Across the divide: Religious objections to brain death

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Abstract

This article reviews the evolution of the medical-legal definition of brain death, as well as the normative debate surrounding this reconceptualization. It offers a clinical approach to address religious objections to brain death, which prefers negotiation over confrontation when families and practicitioners must discern the boundaries between life and death.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University Medical College, USA

    Joseph J. Fins M.D. (assistant professor of medicine)

  2. The New York Hospital, USA

    Joseph J. Fins M.D. (assistant professor of medicine)

  3. the Hastings Center, USA

    Joseph J. Fins M.D. (assistant professor of medicine)

Authors
  1. Joseph J. Fins M.D.
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Additional information

He also serves as physician-ethicist-in-residence at the Hospital Chaplaincy in New York City. An earlier draft of this essay was presented to the Metropolitan New York Ethics Committee Network at the New York Academy of Medicine on 16 November 1994.

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Fins, J.J. Across the divide: Religious objections to brain death. J Relig Health 34, 33–40 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248636

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248636

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