# Does a beating heart signify life exists in a human? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538 "2010-05-06T18:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/1 "2010-05-06T18:40:33Z")
When a pregnancy occurs, can a beating heart be detected? If a beating heart is detected in a human being, does that mean that human being is alive? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/2 "2010-05-06T18:46:10Z")
Heartbeat starts at about 6 weeks of development. Ref: William J. Larsen (2001). Human embryology. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. ISBN 0-443-06583-7. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/3 "2010-05-06T18:46:54Z")
It’s one of the legal definitions of a person being alive. On the other hand, you can be totally brain dead with a beating heart and you’ll still be considered dead. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_death) has a good overview of that. A baby’s heartbeat can be detected as early as 6-7 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/4 "2010-05-06T18:48:51Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > If a beating heart is detected in a human being, does that mean that human being is alive? You may be aware of debate on this topic going back many decades related to the morality and legality of abortion. Some people say that a human being is alive at conception. Some people say that a human being is alive when it could exist outside the womb without heroic measures. Some people say that a human being is alive after the start of the third trimester. Some people say that a human being is alive when born. On the other end of the life cycle, people with beating hearts but no detectable brain activity have been removed from life support. So your second question is not a factual or scientific one, but a subject of moral debate. ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/5 "2010-05-06T18:53:03Z")
Thanks but I was asking if when a heartbeat is detected, does that mean life exists in that being. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/6 "2010-05-06T18:55:47Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > Thanks but I was asking if when a heartbeat is detected, does that mean life exists in that being. The answer is “not necessarily, but maybe.” And “it depends on how you define ‘life’.” ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/7 "2010-05-06T18:56:55Z")
So before 6 weeks, there is not life? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/8 "2010-05-06T19:00:32Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > So before 6 weeks, there is not life? Ahem. IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU DEFINE “LIFE”! ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/9 "2010-05-06T19:01:52Z")
In essence, us humans with brain activity, and a beating heart cannot agree on what life is except our own? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/10 "2010-05-06T19:03:14Z")
Are you talking about “life at the cellular level”? Then there is life without heartbeat, same as there is life in entities which never get hearts. Are you talking about a more complicated definition? Then give us your definition and we’ll be able to give opinions or factual answers (which one it is will, again, depend on your definition). ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/11 "2010-05-06T19:09:36Z")
I don’t know what my definition of **human** life is. I’m trying to find out if science has any single acceptable definition. ---
**Author:** ![NOLA\_Cajun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@NOLA\_Cajun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NOLA_Cajun)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/12 "2010-05-06T19:13:52Z")
How do you define life? An amoeba is life isn’t it? I’d venture to say a newly impregnated egg is just as alive as an amoeba. The SCOTUS has ruled however that it has no rights. But I don’t think the ruling ever said No. 5 was NOT “alive”. I guess the obvious follow up question the OP is going to ask is “If it is alive, do we have the right to abort/kill/murder it?”. And the obvious answer is see: Roe -v- Wade. That’s the legal answer. The moral answer is still under debate and will not be settled to everyones satisfaction today (or ever). ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/13 "2010-05-06T19:15:36Z")
The concept of a beating heart meaning life is a historical throw-back. Historically speaking the lack of a heart beat is an easily measurable way for a doctor declare someone dead. Of course nowadays we know the problem is far more complicated, and plenty of people have lived after their heart has stopped, and plenty of people have had their hearts kept going artificially long after they are, for all intents and purposes, dead. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/14 "2010-05-06T19:19:05Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > I don’t know what my definition of **human** life is. I’m trying to find out if science has any single acceptable definition. And, what you’re seeing is that the answer is “no”, at least in part because it’s as much a philosophical / moral question as a scientific question. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/15 "2010-05-06T19:28:48Z")
Not necessarily. There are many things which are alive without having a beating heart. Like a human kidney. Like sperm. Like a tumor. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/16 "2010-05-06T19:31:58Z")
On the flip side, a person undergoing open heart surgery and whose heart is no longer beating, does not signify that life doesn’t exist in that human. ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/17 "2010-05-06T19:47:58Z")
Since I’m not in the least interested in the moral or philosophical answer, I’ll have to assume that your answer is that science is still trying to define life. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/18 "2010-05-06T19:49:42Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > I don’t know what my definition of **human** life is. I’m trying to find out if science has any single acceptable definition. In our society right now, it’s not a scientific question. Science can tell you exactly what’s going on in an embryo or fetus at any specific moment of time, but the question of when that qualifies as “human” is not scientific. It’s political, religious, moral, ethical - not scientific, because it boils down to how we define a specific word. There’s no experiment that can be done to answer that. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/19 "2010-05-06T19:50:43Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > Since I’m not in the least interested in the moral or philosophical answer, I’ll have to assume that your answer is that science is still trying to define life. (This wasn’t here when I posted my last) It’s not a fault of science. I, as a scientist, have a very good idea of what life is and how it works. It’s a societal question. ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538/20 "2010-05-06T19:54:53Z")
Well in that person undergoing heart surgery, science has temporarily replaced his human heart with a mechanical one in order to fix his human heart, while at that point stipulating that the patient still has life, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-beating-heart-signify-life-exists-in-a-human/538538.md?page=2)