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Stiff 3rd Chunk, Pg #146-219
Mary Roach continues on in the next few chapters to further describe how cadavars are used, how said cadavers were distinguished from the living, and Roach even raises the question of what makes a person a person. First, the author explains how the dead were used to prove the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin by using many quotes and historical facts. Later, Roach chronicels her experience at California's San Fransisco Medical Center. She states that the difference between the living and the dead. The living are "flanked by caregivers with long strides and set faces, steadying IV's, pumping ambu bags, barreling into double doors."(167), while the dead are " wheeled by a single person, calmly and with little notice." But as she continues on, Roach relizes that a beating heart cadavar is "flanked by caregivers with long strides and set faces, steadying IV's, pumping ambu bags, barreling into double doors."
Clarification: Pg 204
Was Gamahut alive for a short amount of time, when Laborde ran the currents through his head. Was his head attatched to his body, or was it just Gamahut's head?
Application:
In your oppinion, what makes a person a person? Do you think that a beating heart cadavar could be classified as a person, or is a person classified by thier soul, spirit or personality? Or maybe even thier brain function?
Clarification:
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure, but I think Gamahut's head was already seperated from his body.
Application:
In my opinion, I think a person is a person with a beating heart, reguardless of if the person is brain dead, they're still living,breathing, and pumping blood throughout thier bodies. They're still a living thing, they're just not themselves if thier soul has already left the body, but nonetheless a living thing.
Clarification:
ReplyDeleteI believe that Gamahut's head was separated from his body, but he was dead. Had he not been dead, i think that was the purpose of the experiment with the electrical currents; to determine whether or not a person continues to live even after the body has been separated from the head.
Application:
I have to say that a person with a functioning brain is a person, and so I agree with a person being legally dead when the brain is dead. With Patient H I considered her to be legally dead, but with functioning parts.