title: [Brain death: biological and ethical aspects].
abstract: The article presents briefly historical development of death criteria from the modern times to the present. The criteria which are used for identification and diagnosing death on the base of respiratory and circulatory death definition are described. This work underlines the inadequacy of the definition of the brain death in relation to patients with persistent vegetative state and in relation to anencephalic newborns. The author describes the pathology and clinical and laboratory evidence of the brain stem death, which gave the possibility to justify the thesis that in case of the brain stem death ontological arguments are sufficient for diagnosing the death of a human being. The attention of the ethic of the life sanctity (on the base of halachic's law) and its opposing influence on the evolution of the medical definition of death has been paid. The recognition of the brain as the death of an individual is a cultural shock, which from scientific point of view changed the ways of thinking, almost immediately but did not in the awareness of the society. The work also underlies the fact that utilitarian argumentation can not be a criterion for making a decision concerning the life of an individual.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roczeń
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bohatyrewicz
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000266:history*; D001926:Brain Death; D003643:Death; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049711:History, Modern 1601-