The document discusses different definitions of death from medical, religious, and existential perspectives. The medical definition has evolved to recognize brain death rather than just the absence of heartbeat and breathing. Religions have differing views on death and the afterlife that make a single definition impossible. Existentially, death means the loss of all possibilities that come with being a living, temporal being.
5. MEDICAL DEFINITION OF DEATH
Death is no longer just the absence of
heartbeat and breathing. A patient who is
breathing and whose hear is functioning
through medical machines, may no longer
have any brain activity; which according to
the new definition, is already dead.
6. MEDICAL DEFINITION OF DEATH
Mistakenly declaring death could
have medical authorities face
possible criminal and civil liabilities.
The doctor is expected to have
exhausted all possible ways to
preserve the life of the patient before
declaring him/her dead.
7. MEDICAL DEFINITION OF DEATH
Without a clear definition of
death, legal accountability
concerning death as a result of
negligence or abuse will be
hard to pursue.
8. MEDICAL DEFINITION OF DEATH
Death is the irreversible cessation of
circulatory and respiratory functions or the
irreversible cessation of all functions of the
entire brain, including the brain stem.
-Organ Donation Act of 1991 or RA 7170
9. MEDICAL DEFINITION OF DEATH
We have to recognize that the legal-medical
definition is not easily accepted by everyone,
and some are still appealing for the review of
such definitions.
10. RELIGIOUS DEFINITION OF DEATH
“With regard to the parameters used today for
ascertaining death-whether the encephalic signs
or the more traditional cardio-respiratory signs-
the Church does not make technical decisions.”
-St. John Paul II
11. RELIGIOUS DEFINITION OF DEATH
We do note that even within
religions, there will always be
differences of views and opinions
concerning specific issues. Thus, to
provide an all-encompassing
religious definition of death will be
impossible.
12. RELIGIOUS DEFINITION OF DEATH
The belief in an afterlife
presupposes that there is
something in the human person
which persists after death. This
something is conceived as the
core of the human person and it
typically has the characteristic of
immortality; this is usually
attributed to the soul.
13. RELIGIOUS DEFINITION OF DEATH
Life is seen as a cycle of
birth. (Reincarnation) Upon
death, the soul will take
another form proportionate
to one’s moral status prior
to death
15. EXISTENTIAL DEFINITION
“To be-to exist” means to have
possibilities; while “not to be-not
to exist” means to lose all the
possibilities. As long as a person
is alive, he is a temporal being
with possibilities.
Editor's Notes
In layman term death was ……………….
And dead, as defined by the existentialist, is the transition from being to non-being. This means the termination of all the possibilities that we have as temporal beings.
