William E. Phipps

Since the early 1980s, death has been legally defined as the cessation of all brain functions. In the following viewpoint, William E. Phipps contends that this current definition of brain death is flawed because it does not take into account patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) whose higher-brain functions have ceased but whose brain stem continues to regulate heart and lung activity. He argues that death should instead be defined as irreversible unconsciousness so that PVS patients can be taken off life-support systems. Phipps is a professor of religion and philosophy at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins,West Virginia.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Phipps, what was Karen Quinlan’s condition in the decade before she was declared dead...