ReviewJournal of bioethical inquiry2015
East-West differences in perception of brain death. Review of history, current understandings, and directions for future research.
Review in Journal of bioethical inquiry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- A retrospective analysis of patients eligible for organ donation in adult intensive care units in Aotearoa New Zealand.Anaesthesia and intensive care · 2026Article
- Caring for Coma after Severe Brain Injury: Clinical Practices and Challenges to Improve Outcomes: An Initiative by the Curing Coma Campaign.Neurocritical care · 2025Article
- Capacity for the management of kidney failure in the International Society of Nephrology North and East Asia region: report from the 2023 ISN Global Kidney Health Atlas (ISN-GKHA).Kidney international supplements · 2024Review
- Medical students' knowledge and attitude toward brain death and the influence of medical education: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Deceased donor kidney transplant policies in Asia - implications on practice and recommendations for the future.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2024Review
- Abortion, Brain Death, and Coercion.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2023Article
- Death pluralism: a proposal.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2023Article
- How Does Confucianism Influence Health Behaviors, Health Outcomes and Medical Decisions? A Scoping Review.Journal of religion and health · 2022Article
- Public Understandings of the Definition and Determination of Death: A Scoping Review.Transplantation direct · 2022Article
- Cultural sensitivity in brain death determination: a necessity in end-of-life decisions in Japan.BMC medical ethics · 2021Article
- Consulting with a folk deity before making decisions: spiritual practices in parents facing end-of-life decisions for their child on life support with brain stem dysfunction.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2020Article
- Minds, brains, and hearts: an empirical study on pluralism concerning death determination.Monash bioethics review · 2020Article
- Neuroethics and the NIH BRAIN Initiative.Journal of responsible innovation · 2018Article
- Re-Examining the Origin and Application of Determination of Death by Neurological Criteria (DDNC) : A Commentary on "The Case for Reasonable Accommodation of Conscientious Objections to Declarations of Brain Death" by L. Syd M. Johnson.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2016Article
- Article
- Using CIRUPA to Help Foster Communication with Families about Brain Death in Sub-Saharan Africa.Indian journal of palliative careArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The concept of brain death as equivalent to cardiopulmonary death was initially conceived following developments in neuroscience, critical care, and transplant technology. It is now a routine part of medicine in Western countries, including the United States. In contrast, Eastern countries have been reluctant to incorporate brain death into legislation and medical practice. Several countries, most notably China, still lack laws recognizing brain death and national medical standards for making the diagnosis. The perception is that Asians are less likely to approve of brain death or organ transplant from brain dead donors. Cultural and religious traditions have been referenced to explain this apparent difference. In the West, the status of the brain as home to the soul in Enlightenment philosophy, combined with pragmatism and utilitarianism, supports the concept of brain death. In the East, the integration of body with spirit and nature in Buddhist and folk beliefs, along with the Confucian social structure that builds upon interpersonal relationships, argues against brain death. However, it is unclear whether these reasoning strategies are explicitly used when families and medical providers are faced with acknowledging brain death. Their decisions are more likely to involve a prioritization of values and a rationalization of intuitive responses. Why and whether there might be differences between East and West in the acceptance of the brain death concept requires further empirical testing, which would help inform policy-making and facilitate communication between providers and patients from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Indexed as
Identifiers
25056149What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.