An Effectual Death

The last country in Europe to update their definition of death held on stubbornly until political pressure from its neighbours became too great.

The wave of redefinition had spread from east to west around the globe.

Death could now be pronounced by physicians in a much more efficient manner and there were no discrepancies between countries or states. Everybody was on the same page about death. Incidentally, the final draft of the World Health Organisation’s manifesto on death reclassification took up one page exactly.

It was a neat and tidy solution to an ongoing problem. The concept of “brain death” had been relegated to the history books.

“Effectual death” was the new technical term.

If you were beyond recovery from an ailment or disease, you could be declared dead by any doctor who had been requested by a blood relative to pronounce death. If there were no living blood relatives, a friend or acquaintance would suffice.

The early days of this reclassification of death were interesting times. There was a spate of “effectual murders” whereby a disgruntled party had requested the death of another person unethically, but entirely within the law. This, of course, was quickly remedied with new legislation which allowed for the provision of a “death pronouncement reversal”. In some…