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By the time of Karen Quinlan's dilemma, the medical profession faced problems of its own. New medical technology could keep patients alive who previously would have died. The traditional legal definition of death — the stopping of all vital bodily functions including breathing and a beating heart — was complicated by the fact that as long as a patient is supported by an artificial respirator, doctors cannot tell if the heart is beating naturally. Only a few months before Karen lapsed into a coma, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a resolution urging that physicians, not legislators, decide when death occurs. The AMA included "permanent and irreversible cessation of function of the brain" as a criteria to broaden the medical definition of death which in the past was determined in most cases by the heart ceasing to beat. Karen's case opened a host of complex...
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This section contains 384 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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