40 years after the widely accepted Harvard report that established the concept of brain death, a front page editorial in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has reopened the debate on what constitutes the end of life.
The editorial declares that life may continue after the brain dies and that the current Harvard definition is a contradiction to the concept of a person according to Catholic doctrine. The Harvard definition, published in 1968, allowed the church to sanction switching off life support machines in people who were declared 'brain dead'. The newspaper article appears to be concerned that the key beneficiaries to this definition are people who require organ transplants. It notes, too, that the Vatican had only accepted the definition of brain death with reservations and that it was not used within the Vatican City.
The Vatican's leading spokesman on health issues, Javier Lozano Barragan, was reported in La Repubblica newspaper as saying that he agreed "completely" with the article.
As evidence that a person might not die after irreversible brain death, Professor Scaraffia cited the 1992 case of a pregnant woman who was declared brain dead and whose pregnancy proceeded normally until she aborted spontaneously.
However, Vicenzo Passerelli, president of the Italian Association of Organ Donors, said "We're talking about a philosophical argument. Here in the scientific world, on the other hand, nobody doubts the value of brain death in allowing transplantation to happen."
In recent years the Catholic church in Italy has clashed with the medical establishment in several high profile cases over the right of terminally ill patients to refuse treatment or care.
