title: The importance of being dead: non-heart-beating organ donation.
abstract: There is no definitive answer to the question of how long one must wait, after a person's heart stops beating, before concluding that the person meets the heart-lung criteria for death. This question has assumed new importance with attempts to remove transplantable organs from people declared dead using those criteria. An examination of the legal definition of death suggests that organs are indeed being procured from some of these people prior to their being legally dead. Moreover, the fact that the donors have consented to these procedures does not eliminate reason for concern regarding this state of affairs, since patient autonomy must at times be overridden in pursuance of important social goals.
authors.affiliation: Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA.
authors.forename: Jerry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Menikoff
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death; D001775:Blood Circulation; D001926:Brain Death / Q000145:classification / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003643:Death; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D013995:Time; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States
keywords: Death and Euthanasia; Legal Approach