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BIOETHICS
SIGNIFICANCE IN
DETERMINING DEATH
• There is a widespread and
increasing use of new devices
for prolonging life
• There is great demand for
cadaver organs for transplant

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 DEFINITION OF DEATH
• PHYSIOLOGICAL DEFINITION
- when the heart has stopped beating
- no breathing
- the use of mechanical ventilator is prolonging the dying
process

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 DEFINITION OF DEATH
• RELIGIOUS/PHILOSOPHICAL
- separation of the body and soul
- the weakness of this definition takes
place because the exact time
of separation of soul and body is undetermined

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 DEFINITION OF DEATH
• BRAIN DEATH DEFINITION
- the brain is completely destroyed

- cessation of functions of all organs are imminent and

inevitable
- determined by the use of EEG and ECG
- (Harvard Medical School) – unreceptivity & unresponsive
- no movement of breathing
- no reflexes
- flat EEG
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DEFINITION OF DEATH

• CELLULAR DEFINITION
- breakdown of all
metabolic processes of
the body’s substance

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ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEATH
• COGNITIVE – how a dying
individual think about death
(denial & acceptance)
• AFFECTIVE – bear out the
feeling of a dying individual
(depression, fear, sense of loss)
• BEHAVIORAL – how a dying
individual react (anger,
irritability, bargaining,
resentment)
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 A Russian theologian, states that “only death
can give meaning to life. Without death , life
would be meaningless . Meaning is bound up
with the end. Thus, our last hope lies in
death. Immortality can be attained only
through death. This is death’s great
Nikolai
Berdyaev paradox. Death, then, is only a path, or an
intermission number between the present
and the hereafter.”

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 Epicurus, the Athenean thinker, argues: “Either there
is immortality or there is none. If there is, then we
should be glad there is death, for once we are dead we
shall become immortal; if there is none, then death is
our final liberation from pain and suffering. In either
case therefore, we should not fear death but be happy
about it. Moreover, continues Epicurus, if we are still
alive, death has not yet come; but once we are dead,
EPICURUS then death cannot touch us anymore. Therefore,
whether we are alive or dead, death cannot touch us.
We should not fear death.”

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 A German existentialist, Martin Heidegger,
views death as the completion of life, for
unless and until one dies, one’s life is not
yet complete; hence his concept of man as
being-towards death. “That is, death is a
great equalizer of men, for as far as the
coffin and the grave are concerned, all are
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
equal; whether you are poor individual or a
cardinal, you are alike when you die.”

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 The father of Filipino Philosophy, claimed
that is death is a great equalizer of men,
for as far as the coffin and the grave are
concerned, all are equal; whether you are
poor individual or a cardinal, you are alike
when you die.
FLORENTINO TIMBREZA

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DNR (DO NOT RESUCITATE)

• DNR should be ordered by the doctor

• It should specify the exact nature of
the treatments to be withheld.
• Patients, when they are able should
participate in the decision making
• Decision to withhold CPR should be
discussed with the health care team.
• DNR status should be revised on a
regular basis.
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LANGUAGE OF DNR

CODE – the call for cardiopulmonary

resuscitation
CODE BLUE – cardiopulmonary
arrest
CODE RED – bleeding and seizure
NO CODE – DNR
SLOW CODE –health care team
slow the process of
resuscitation so as to
appear to be providing the
care
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MORAL ISSUES
ON
SUICIDE

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 SUICIDE

• Direct, willful destruction of

one’s own life

direct – in so far as the act is directed to

the self
willful – in so far as it is deliberate,
voluntary & intentional
destructive – in so far as the means is more
often than not, brutal or very
harsh

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 FACTORS OF
COMMITTING SUICIDE

• RELIGIOUS
• Cultural
• Personal
• Financial
• Political

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 CONS OF SUICIDE
• FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
a. suicide is a crime which is
contrary to the common
nature of all animals (instinct
of survival)
b. the soul is a depositum
(deposited for safekeeping)
received from God, so that to
kill oneself is contrary to the
divine will.
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 CONS OF SUICIDE
• ST. AUGUSTINE
a. suicide is itself a greater sin
b. self murder is against the 5th
commandment (thou shall
not kill)
c. suicide deprives one the
opportunity to repent
d. It is an ignoble act through
which one attempts to
escape the ills of life
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 CONS OF SUICIDE
• ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
a. Suicide is against the natural law
(our natural inclination of self
preservation and conservation)
b. Being a member of the society, a
person who kills himself
deprives the community of his
activity
c. It is a usurpation of God’s function
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PROS OF SUICIDE

• MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE
- If an individual reaches to a point where
all that he feels is terrible pain, agony, and
misery, then suicide becomes permissible

• JOHN DONNE
- suicide is a means of liberating oneself
from exploitation and oppression

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 PROS OF SUICIDE
• BARON DE MONTESQUIEU
- It is unjust to compel a person to
labor for a society he no longer
consents to be a member

- the act of suicide does not disturb the

order of the universe

- though the soul is separated from the

body, the order of the universe never
changes
 PROS OF SUICIDE

• DAVID HUME
- the removal of misery makes suicide
justifiable and permissible
- to bear the unbearable pain is in no way
part of the natural inclination
- there is no such thing as designed by god,
man’s life is as disposable as that of
an oyster.

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