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1000
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Abstract/Summary
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The transplantation of organs removed post-mortem is considered an established treatment method in medical practice. Procurement of organs is premised on the willingness of a donor, or of persons deciding for the donor, to make organs available for transplantation following the occurrence of death.The measures associated with this – and the criteria for removal guiding their execution – occasionally lead, nonetheless, to deeply felt uncertainties among possible donors and next-of-kin, as well as among those seriously ill individuals waiting foran organ donation. These uncertainties arise not least of all due to the fact that the hope of saving a life is linked to the death of another human being. For many people, the ambivalence implied by this is also connected to the question of how it can be possible to obtain living organs from a dead person. In fact, it has only become possible through modern intensive care to maintain bodily functions even when all brain functions have already irrecoverably expired. The “brain death” which can be diagnosed in this case is commonly equated with the death of the human being...
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