After the Definition of Irreversible Coma

Abstract

Over a year ago, a committee was appointed by the Harvard Medical School with instructions to define death. The committee, however, shied away from this assignment because the aspects of death are so many. It cannot be "defined" apart from tedious, qualifying, imprecise terms. Consider, for example, that civilizations die, and yet the component societies live on. Societies disintegrate, but the individuals involved survive. Individuals die; yet their cells continue to metabolize, some for much longer than others. Cells are disrupted, but their ferments are still active. Where, in any such sequence, can one say that at this moment and . . .