Do we know what death is? For centuries, death was diagnosed when the heartbeat ceased, but heart machines now mean that a patient can survive even after their heart stops. The focus then shifted to brain-death, yet brain-dead patients’ bodies can continue to function – a brain-dead female can even carry a pregnancy to term. So brain-death is not the death of the human organism. Lukas J. Meier argues that this suggests we should stop thinking of death as biological, and instead see it as psychological: what really matters is not the death of the organism, but the death of the psyche. Imagine a situation that we all dread: one day you receive a call, informing you that a friend has had a severe car accident. You rush to the hospital. The doctors explain to you that your friend suffered catastrophic head injuries and has just been dec…
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