Posted on 03/18/2005 10:41:59 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
I am taking some of what you are saving at face value and intend to do some of my own research over the next few weeks, though I stand by my original assertions - that "brain death" does not mean dead and that organs in transplants are removed from living people. The definitions of "brain death" were put in place in the late 1960s to facilitate both transplants and the ability of people to remove such things as respirators without the fear of homicide investigations.
A couple of notes: Apparently you are granting that one must logically "separate" the brainstem from the brain to make the argument that breathing is possible "without brain function". Second, the idea that one's heart could keep beating if your entire brain was removed supports the notion that brain death and death are two distinct things.
You have the assumption that we are in disagreement. We are not.
I know we are not in agreement, I was giving my points of view ("brain death" is not death, and organs are taken from living people) without trying to provoke a lengthy argument about the morality of organ transplants.
Pretty ridiculous...Rush is doing a nice job of hitting on it today.
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