The way we look at the definition of biomedicine today is based on what type of culture we are around. In the western world, we have made that definition and formed it into how we make it based on our ideas and beliefs. There are many other cultures that may categorize biomedicine better or worse than ourselves, but we need to be open minded in order to relate with others. When we look at life and death we need to really determine on where it begins and how it ends.
Based on many cultures everyone has a different view and opinion on that matter and it potentially causes conflicts between themselves. Do we consider life as when the first heart beat takes place or when the egg is fertilized? And on the other end of the spectrum, are we considering death as when the brain is not functional anymore or when one does not breath and the heart stops beating? These are important concepts to think about and take into consideration based on cultures around the world and peoples beliefs. I personally believe that one is alive as the first heart beat occurs and dies when that last beat happens. Just less than a week now, my grandmother passed away. I talked to her perfectly normal like nothing wrong and next day she has a stroke and is sent into a coma for a few days before her last breath and heart beat. That I personally think this is when one is considered dead. Her being in a coma made her brain dead, but she is still breathing and the heart still working, but the last one is when I look at it and say may she rest in peace. I feel like this just because there is always something, somehow or someway that one can still come back to normal activity even if one is brain dead. There is always this possibility. The start of life I look at it, as the way that one passes and must have that same way to start; the first heart beat.
I feel like this is accepted just fine by the western society. Everyone has their own belief and yet is respected by others. In the western world we live in we are open to all this different views, some may not like it compared to others, but at the end of the day we let it be, it is what it is, and we move on.