Michael Santa Cruz
Hum 310
Key Concepts: Death and Dying
Dr. Brooke Nelson
Writing Assignment # 1
Being Alive I am breathing, but does that classify as being alive? being considered alive has a lot more meaning now than before and is more complex than ever before , considering that fact that people can be pronounced dead and sill be alive. As unsettling as that sounds it is common. Death comes in many different forms and many different meanings. It sounded like it used to be black and white, either one is dead or one is alive, but to my surprise there is a grey area. Based on the certain criteria covered by Kastenbaum with the death and its meanings, I am certain I am alive. I have vital signs and I am responsive. I don’t Fall under the Traditional Biomedical Criteria of Death, the Harvard Criteria or being brain dead. To understand that some is alive, one most know the traditional determination of death. One most answer what is death? or what does death mean? In the medical sense, The Biomedical approach focus on under what condition am I considered dead. The biomedical Criteria states that the most commons signs of death is lack of respiration, pulse and heartbeat, as well as to respond to stimuli such as light movement and pain. In the past physicians did not need technology to pronounce someone did but error occurred, and sometimes people were mistaken for dead when their vital functions were suspended. An eerie feeling knowing that one wrong diagnosis and I could be pronounced dead. Similar to the Biomedical approaches to death,The Harvard Criteria served as a primary guide for determining brain death but has been subject to some changes with advances in neurological technology. This approach focuses on a person in the vegetation state.The first three criteria are the traditional ones. Some one who is unreceptive and unresponsive. In this state the person shows no awareness externally, and is unresponsive even when pain is applied. The next criteria is no movement and no spontaneous respiration or other muscle movement. No the person in this state has no spontaneous breathing or spasms of movements.The third criteria is no reflexes. The persons shows no signs of reflexes that usually would appear through a neurophysiological exam as stated by Kastenbaum. An example Kastenbaum gives is when the pupil reacts when a light is shined in the eye. The 4th and 5th criteria is to be used when the traditional criteria may not be reliable . A flat EEG shows a print out of electrical activity from the living brain, or in this case the lack of activity. (Brain waves.) The EEG would normally show patterns of peaks and valleys, but in the case of a brain dead person it would show a flat line. The 5th criteria would show no circulation to or within the brain. The person would be without oxygen and blood circulating through the brain thus terminating any brain function. In certain situations it is plausible to retest the brains 24 hours later to make a determination on the person. There are different ways of being dead as described by Kastenbaum “ medical advances have made it possible to maintain the body of