Journal Article

Where's Waldo? The ‘decapitation gambit’ and the definition of death

Lizza, John P

2011

Overview

The ‘decapitation gambit’ holds that, if physical decapitation normally entails the death of the human being, then physiological decapitation, evident in cases of total brain failure, entails the death of the human being. This argument has been challenged by Franklin Miller and Robert Truog, who argue that physical decapitation does not necessarily entail the death of human beings and that therefore, by analogy, artificially sustained human bodies with total brain failure are living human beings. They thus challenge the current neurological criterion for determining death and argue for a return to the traditional criterion of the irreversible loss of circulation and respiration. In this paper, I defend the decapitation gambit and total brain failure as a criterion for determining death against Miller and Truog's criticism.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics,BMJ Publishing Group,BMJ Publishing Group Ltd,BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subject: Absence and presumption of death / American philosophy / Analysis / Anatomical systems / Attitude to Death / Bioethics / Brain / Brain death / Brain Death - diagnosis / Brain Death - physiopathology / Consciousness / Criteria / Death / Death & dying / Decapitation / defining death / definition/determination of death / donation/procurement of organs/tissues / embryos and fetuses / end of life / Ethical aspects / Ethics, Medical / euthanasia / Head / Human Body / Humans / Jurisprudence / Law, ethics and medicine / Legal death / moral and religious aspects / Philosophy / Physiology / Psychophysics / Respiration / Respiratory system / Social ethics / Terminology as Topic