Why is there still debate about definitions of death in medicine and bioethics? Is it because of existential uncertainty and philosophical curiosity about when a person has died so the person’s dea...

The articles by Bernat, Busch, Dudzinski et al., and Derse illustrate the difficulties with reconciling normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) with the dead donor rule (DDR) (Bernat forthcoming; Busch forthcoming; Dudzinski et al. forthcoming; Derse forthcoming). I appreciate their arguments because they help illuminate the issues that generate a dilemma: either reject NRP or the DDR. I am convinced that the dilemma is unavoidable because the procurement team is involved with determining and securing the death of the donor when circulation restarts. (...) Evidence for this is found in the reasons and recommendations given for blocking blood flow to the brain, both of which betray a lack of certainty over the donor’s vital status. The surgical activity in NRP therefore conflicts with the values the DDR protects: respect for the donor’s life and avoidance of conflict of interest. (shrink)

Old habits die hard; so, it seems, do old arguments. Proponents of thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP, but more commonly referred to as NRP) continue to proffer arguments and...

The implementation of the thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion in organ donation after circulatory determination of death (TANRP-DCDD) protocol is garnering increasing attention and pre...

Bernat (2024) and Busch (2024) both argue that the clamping of cerebral vasculature in NRP-cDCD ensures sufficient diagnostic certainty of death that the procedure does not violate the Dead Donor R...

The intent of the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) was to facilitate a consistent legal standard for death and align the law with medical practice throughout the United States subsequent t...

Does normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) resurrect the dead? That was the question I asked in one of the target articles published in the special issue of The American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB)...

Two of the lead articles in this issue examine the emerging practice of organ procurement by normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) in terms of whether or not these patients are “dead” at the time t...