{"id":6003,"date":"2014-07-21T00:19:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T07:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003"},"modified":"2023-01-22T16:18:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T00:18:03","slug":"changing-the-conversation-about-brain-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003","title":{"rendered":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"bibliography wp-block-heading\">Robert D Truog, Franklin G&nbsp;Miller<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"171\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethics.jpg\" alt=\"The American Journal of Bioethics\" class=\"wp-image-11196\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The American Journal of Bioethics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>We seek to change the conversation about brain death by highlighting the distinction between brain death as a biological concept versus brain death as a legal status. The fact that brain death does not cohere with any biologically plausible definition of death has been known for decades. Nevertheless, this fact has not threatened the acceptance of brain death as a legal status that permits individuals to be treated as if they are dead. The similarities between &#8220;legally dead&#8221; and &#8220;legally blind&#8221; demonstrate how we may legitimately choose bright-line legal definitions that do not cohere with biological reality. Not only does this distinction bring conceptual coherence to the conversation about brain death, but it has practical implications as well. Once brain death is recognized as a social construction not grounded in biological reality, we create the possibility of changing the social construction in ways that may better serve both organ donors and recipients alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Truog RD, Miller FG.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/15265161.2014.925154\">Changing the Conversation About Brain Death<\/a>. The American Journal of Bioethics, 14:8, 9-14 (2014) DOI: 10:1080\/15265161.2014.925154<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert D Truog, Franklin G&nbsp;Miller AbstractWe seek to change the conversation about brain death by highlighting the distinction between brain death as a biological concept versus brain death as a legal status. The fact that brain death does not cohere with any biologically plausible definition of death has been known for decades. Nevertheless, this fact &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Changing the Conversation About Brain Death&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,2,15],"tags":[648,1273,1257],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-journal-article","category-organ-procurement","tag-brain-death","tag-franklin-g-miller-2","tag-robert-d-truog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethicsog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"601\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethicsog.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\"},\"headline\":\"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003\"},\"wordCount\":189,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/amjbioethics.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"brain death\",\"Franklin G\u00a0Miller\",\"Robert D Truog\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"Journal Articles\",\"Organ\\\/Tissue Procurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003\",\"name\":\"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/amjbioethics.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/amjbioethics.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/amjbioethics.jpg\",\"width\":171,\"height\":230,\"caption\":\"The American Journal of Bioethics\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6003#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"width\":1123,\"height\":1376,\"caption\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencpro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\",\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Project Administrator\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.consciencelaws.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library","og_description":"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.","og_url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","article_published_time":"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":601,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethicsog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Project Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethicsog.jpg","twitter_creator":"@consciencpro","twitter_site":"@consciencpro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Project Administrator","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003"},"author":{"name":"Project Administrator","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098"},"headline":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death","datePublished":"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003"},"wordCount":189,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethics.jpg","keywords":["brain death","Franklin G\u00a0Miller","Robert D Truog"],"articleSection":["Ethics","Journal Articles","Organ\/Tissue Procurement"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003","name":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death - Protection of Conscience Project Library","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethics.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-21T07:19:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-23T00:18:03+00:00","description":"Brain death is a social construction not grounded in biological reality. We can reconstruct it to better serve organ donors and recipients.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethics.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/amjbioethics.jpg","width":171,"height":230,"caption":"The American Journal of Bioethics"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6003#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Changing the Conversation About Brain Death"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protecton of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","width":1123,"height":1376,"caption":"Protecton of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencpro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098","name":"Project Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Project Administrator"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org"],"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6003"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14695,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003\/revisions\/14695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6003"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=6003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}