From the tone of the report by the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Re search, one might conclude that the whole-brain-oriented definition of death is now firmly established as an enduring element of public policy. In that report, Defining Death: Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death, the President's Commission forwarded a uni form determination of death act, which laid heavy accent on the signifi cance of the brain stem in determining whether an individual is alive or dead: An individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards ([1], p. 2). The plausibility of these criteria is undermined as soon as one confronts the question of the level of treatment that ought to be provided to human bodies that have permanently lost consciousness but whose brain stems are still functioning.

Inhalt
I / Historical and Conceptual Foundations.- Back from the Grave: Recurring Controversies over Defining and Diagnosing Death In History.- Does Anyone Survive Neocortical Death?.- Reexamining the Definition of Death and Becoming Clearer about What it is to be Alive.- II / Beyond Whole-Brain Criteria of Death: Legal Considerations.- Should the Law Define Death? A Genuine Question.- Legal Issues Leading to the Notion of Neocortical Death.- III / The President's Commission and Beyond.- The Report of the President's Commission on the Uniform Determination of Death Act.- Whole-Brain, Neocortical, and Higher Brain Related Concepts.- Brains and Persons: A Critique of Veatch's View.- Human Death and the Destruction of the Neocortex.- IV / The Cultural Context.- Beyond a Whole-Brain Definition of Death: Reconsidering the Metaphysics of Death.- The Many Times of Death.- The Element of Choice in Criteria of Death.- Person Perception and the Death of the Person: A New Role for Health Professionals in Cases of Brain Death.- Notes on contributors.