Nuestro compañero Alberto Molina (IESA-CSIC/ FiloLab/ INEDyTO) ha publicado junto a James L. Bernat (Giesel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College) y Anne Dave Alle (The Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University) el artículo «Inconsistency between the Circulatory and the Brain Criteria of Death in the Uniform Determination of Death Act» en la revista The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhad029). En este artículo se exploran las inconsistencias de la Ley de Determinación Uniforme de la Muerte (UDDA) que establece la muerte en base a dos criterios: o por la cesación irreversible de las funciones circulatorias y respiratorias, o por la cesación de las funciones de todo el cerebro, incluyendo el tronco encefálico. En el artículo se debate la interpretación de ese «cese de funciones», que admite diferentes lecturas y provoca inconsistencias en la aplicación de la UDDA. A continuación compartimos el abstract del artículo en inglés y el acceso al texto completo.
Abstract
The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) provides that “an individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead.” We show that the UDDA contains two conflicting interpretations of the phrase “cessation of functions.” By one interpretation, what matters for the determination of death is the cessation of spontaneous functions only, regardless of their generation by artificial means. By the other, what matters is the cessation of both spontaneous and artificially supported functions. Because each UDDA criterion uses a different interpretation, the law is conceptually inconsistent. A single consistent interpretation would lead to the conclusion that conscious individuals whose respiratory and circulatory functions are artificially supported are actually dead, or that individuals whose brain is entirely and irreversibly destroyed may be alive. We explore solutions to mitigate the inconsistency.
Acceso al texto completo.
