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Is a human alive who has only his vegetative functions and no consciousness of his being? Is not a patient virtually dead who has no brain activity whatsoever? And if he is in irreversible coma, can his organs be removed for transplantation into a conscious body? ....

Middle of Essay
.... is also supported by the definition of clinical death, which states that death is equated with irreversible coma. This view has been challenged; however, as medical advanced have made it possible to sustain respiration and cardiac functioning through mechanical means. Thus, more recently, the concept of brain death has gained acceptance. In this view, the irreversible loss of brain activity is the sign that death has occurred. By the late 1980’s brain death, as an essential sign of death, was accepted by the majority of institutes in North America. Even the concept of brain death has been challenged in recent years. Because a person can lose al ....