Abstract
Now,however,with improved knowledge of resuscitation plus available life-sus taining machinery, it is possible to reverse a cardiac standstill or maintain ventila tion in a person totally unresponsive and utterly dependent on the respirator. Should the latter be turned off, within a short time the heart would stop. Is a totally unreceptive, unresponsive patient, completely respirator-dependent, alive? Is such a brain capable of survival now or at a later period? What is the effect on the brain of days to weeks on the respirator? The consensus which includes opinions from the Church (1), legal, and ethical sources (2-4) leans towards designating the moment of death at the time that the brain is considered dead. That state has been variously designated as irreversible coma, brain death, artificial survival, and coma depasse. The last is well-chosen because the individual is beyond coma, his state is irrevers ible, and ahead of him is absolute death (5). The Research Group on Death and Dying of the Institute of Society Ethics and Life Sciences (4) formulated its own definition:
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