title: [Brain death and thanatology].
abstract: New technologies in medicine dramatically open a twilight-zone of ignorance between life and death. The argument shows that the present definition of brain death as the death of a human person is a convention with a specific philosophy behind. You will meet the problem with more accuracy when referring to an ethics of intransparence that allows an individual decision with respect to certain qualified conditions. Only from this starting-point the informed ex ante consent for an organ donation seems to become the only conclusive but at the same time justified decision.
authors.affiliation: Universität Kaiserslauten, BRD.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zwierlein
mesh_terms: D001926:Brain Death / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013795:Thanatology; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence
vernacular_title: Hirntod und Thanatologie.