DailyDirt: Death Ain't So Simple

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Medical technology is making progress all the time, and with that progress comes new ethical questions. One of the big issues that we may need to deal with soon is determining who is really dead (or when to stop resuscitating). Growing new organs isn't quite a reliable technology, so until we can re-grow our own organs, we're not immortals. But we're not dead yet.... By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: billy crystal, death, dick teresi, ethics, medicine, organ donor
Companies: facebook


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2012 @ 5:44pm

    Over eager organ harvesters are an actual fear of mine. This does not help.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      squirrel (profile), 5 Jun 2012 @ 8:10am

      Re:

      Yeah, that article makes me want to write on my ID that I'll give my organs only if they put me under. Not sure if that would hold any legal value though.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2012 @ 7:30pm

    My reccomendation of method to anyone contemplating suicide:

    Starve yourself!

    If you are so intent on killing yourself, see if this desire is stronger than your desire to eat. Will you break down and go for the cheeseburger (or whatever)?

    IMO, the title should prove to be true, "Death Ain't so Simple."

    *The method gives you time to think your decision through much more than a bullet, rope, height or poison will.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Travicane, 4 Jun 2012 @ 8:17pm

      Re: My reccomendation of method to anyone contemplating suicide: Starve yourself!

      Yes, and might bring some insight to out the "attention whore" sort (read almost fake) suicide attempts. People will get tired of their bullshit and stop trying to get them to eat.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2012 @ 9:03pm

    I don't think immortality would be as simple as that. Dealing with organ failure is one thing, but what about neurodegeneration? Unless you can keep from going senile, you'd end up an undying vegetable.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 4 Jun 2012 @ 10:52pm

      Re: ... you'd end up an undying vegetable.

      Terry Sciavo was one notorious case.

      Another one I look at is Stephen Hawking. He has survived an amazingly long time with a neurodegenerative disease. But as time goes on, he loses more and more control of his own body. It can currently take him an hour just to compose one sentence on his speech machine, by twitching a cheek muscle, I think it is.

      Has he decided what he’s going to do when even that becomes impossible?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Michael Ho (profile), 5 Jun 2012 @ 12:08am

        Re: Re: ... you'd end up an undying vegetable.

        Those are two good examples of the extremes of the "undead" --and how it's tricky to determine exactly what a person's quality of life is.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    sprearson81 (profile), 10 Jun 2012 @ 9:06am

    Oh, this makes me feel ill.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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