BÜRGERUNI: When is a person dead? - The problem of brain death

More than 8,500 people in Germany are currently waiting for an organ donation. In 2024, organ donation was realised in 953 people after brain death diagnosis. This disproportion leads to the discussion of the objection solution (i.e. consent to organ donation would be assumed if no objection was made) or the proposal that cardiac death would also qualify for organ donation. At the same time, the question remains unanswered: Is the brain death criterion medically valid and morally justifiable.

Dr Ulrich Hofstadt-van Oy, lecturer at the School of Medicine at the UW/H and Head of Neurology at the Knappschaft Clinics in Dortmund, who has been involved in brain death diagnostics for decades, will discuss both the development and the problems of the brain death concept and would like to enter into a discussion with the participants.

Admission costs €7 (€5 concessions). Tickets are available at the box office.

The Citizens' University is a joint event organised by the vhs Witten | Wetter | Herdecke and the WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale of the UW/H