There are some who are advocating a radical notion to solve the organ shortage: broadening our definition of “death.” ...

Scientists are investigating new ways to bring patients back from a vegetative state—and raising uncomfortable questions ...

Defining Death Historically, death was marked by the heart stopping. However, in 1968, Harvard Medical School proposed adding brain death as a definition.

The first brain death during pregnancy in which the fetus was delivered after time on life support, more accurately called organ support, occurred in 1981.

In cases of brain death, where the heart may still be beating, the patient has lost all vital brain functions, particularly in the brain stem.

The baby of Adriana Smith, a brain-dead pregnant woman who was being kept alive by ventilators under Georgia’s abortion law, was delivered Friday, her family said.

(The Conversation) — Adriana Smith’s body was kept on life support for 16 weeks so her fetus could gestate. Abortion politics don’t capture the ethical complexities of such situations.