A Medical History of the Criteria for Death

For a long time, death has appeared as an obvious occurrence, needing no help from physicians to be certified. During the 18th and 19th centuries, medicine gets hold of this scientific field and tries to define the clinical signs, in order to avoid apparent death and premature burials. Yet, paradoxically, the pervasive medicalization of death as well as the 20th century advances in the field of reanimation make their definition dependent on the progress of technologies and of diagnostic, and blur the boundaries between life and death.