Ramos-Zúñiga R
Departamento de Neurociencias, CUCS, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
Rev Neurol. 2000;30(12):1269-72.
Brain death has been a topic of great interest for clinicians throughout the history of Neurosciences. There are so many different ideas about this topic that it has been necessary to constantly define further the criteria and medical decisions applicable in this field. Also about this matter there are a set of cultural, philosophical and religious aspects as well as autonomous principles in the people involved in such an event. Questions and dilemmas are still present in the individuality of every case and especially in terms of management of information and circumstances that define brain death.
This essay tries to analyze the medical and historical issues around death and its relation to the context of brain death as such. There are also a series of reflections supported by the current bioethical thoughts that are identified with a cultural framework that is crucial to acknowledge the way in which the doctor, the family and society approach an event such as brain death. In spite of all the development of diagnostic technology and the extremes of the futility and extreme cruelty of treatments; there are still open questions that require to be looked into with objective criteria and scientific rigor.
We should not put aside bioethical principles that are inherent to human quality and dignity that touch the sensitivity of those who give out the information and those who receive it within this process of interaction between the medical staff and the family.
在神经科学的整个历史中，脑死亡一直是临床医生极为关注的话题。关于这个话题存在着诸多不同的观点，因此有必要不断进一步明确适用于该领域的标准和医疗决策。此外，在涉及此类事件的人群中，还存在一系列文化、哲学和宗教方面的因素以及自主原则。在每个案例的独特性中，尤其是在界定脑死亡的信息管理和具体情况方面，问题和困境仍然存在。
本文试图分析围绕死亡的医学和历史问题及其与脑死亡背景的关系。当前的生物伦理思想也引发了一系列思考，这些思考与一种文化框架相关联，而这种文化框架对于认识医生、家庭和社会处理脑死亡这类事件的方式至关重要。尽管诊断技术有了长足发展，且治疗存在徒劳和极端残忍的情况，但仍有一些悬而未决的问题需要用客观标准和科学严谨性去探究。
我们不应忽视那些与人类品质和尊严内在相关的生物伦理原则，这些原则触动了在医护人员与家庭的互动过程中传递信息者和接收信息者的敏感之处。
