Hot Take: Defining Death (February 25, 2018)

We were pressed for time this week, so we were not able to spend much time preparing or recording. Therefore, we have a shorter-than-usual, but somewhat disorganized, conversation about the strange case of Jahi McMath, a young woman who suffered terrible complications after a routine tonsilectomy. Jahi has existed for years now in a liminal state somewhere between technologically-supported bodily life, and legal brain death. Her case is controversial, and hotly disputed by hospital administrators and medical ethicists, and casts doubt on the contemporary definition of death that enables organ transplantation. Her story, and her family’s story, also seems to us to be illustrative of the ways that black patients and their families are mistreated and disrespected by the medical establishment.

How to Listen

You can find the MP3 file here.

The Podcast feed is here.

The Podcast channel on YouTube is here.

More Information

The New Yorker article that we cite, “What Does It Mean to Die?” by Rachel Aviv, can be found in the February 5, 2018 issue and online here.