Denying culture in the transplant arena: Technocratic medicine's myth of democratization

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Volumn 11, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 142-150

  Sharp, Lesley A ^a  

^a Barnard College of Columbia University   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CADAVER DONOR; CAUCASIAN; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; DEATH; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNOLOGY; FAMILY; FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT; GRAFT SURVIVAL; HEALTH CARE ACCESS; HEALTH INSURANCE; HEPATITIS C; HUMAN; IDEOLOGY; INTERVIEW; LIVER TRANSPLANTATION; MEDICAL CARE; MEDICAL ETHICS; METHODOLOGY; ORGAN DONOR; ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION; PATIENT RIGHT; POLITICS; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; PUBLIC HEALTH; RECIPIENT; REVIEW; SKIN COLOR; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL MEDICINE; SOCIAL STATUS; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0036524540     PISSN: 09631801     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0963180102112060     Document Type: Review

References (25)

1. To underscore their dependency on one another, throughout this article the expression organ transfer encompasses the inseparable realms of organ donation, procurement, and transplantation.
2. McChesney LP, Braithwaite SS. Expectations and outcomes in organ transplantation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 1999;8:300; for an example from Canada, see: Yoshida EM. Selecting candidates for liver transplantation: a medical ethics perspective on the allocation of a scarce and rationed resource. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology 1998;12:209-15.
3. McChesney LP, Braithwaite SS. Expectations and outcomes in organ transplantation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 1999;8:300; for an example from Canada, see: Yoshida EM. Selecting candidates for liver transplantation: a medical ethics perspective on the allocation of a scarce and rationed resource. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology 1998;12:209-15.
4. Geertz C. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
5. American Anthropological Association. Code of Ethics, June, 1998. Anthropology Newsletter 1998:19-20.
6. Pronounced "yo" (reminiscent of the first-person singular pronoun in Spanish).
7. In 1998 Mayor Giuliani of New York City declared April as Hepatitis C Awareness Month. He stressed, "It is estimated that 4.8 million Americans are infected with Hepatitis C, and that as many as 12, 000 die from the condition every year." In this same context, health activist Debbie Delgado Vega further underscored that "Education can help eliminate this deadly virus and the need for liver transplants among all New Yorkers with Hepatitis C, especially within the Latino community" (Press release, 17 Mar 1998, Office of the Mayor of the City of New York).
8. United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Cadaveric organ donation increases 5.6 percent in 1998. Update 1998;Jun:3.
9. Caws P. On the teaching of ethics in a pluralistic society. Hastings Center Report 1978;8:32-9; and Davis-Floyd R, St. John G. From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1998.
10. Caws P. On the teaching of ethics in a pluralistic society. Hastings Center Report 1978;8:32-9; and Davis-Floyd R, St. John G. From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1998.
11. See note 7, UNOS 1998, p. 1.
12. I wish to thank physical anthropologist F. Jackson for her provocative insights on the conflation of ethnicity and race in the medical literature; for comparative comments concerning "Asian American" as a racial category, see: Ikemoto LC. The fuzzy logic of race and gender in the mismeasure of Asian American women's health needs. University of Cincinnati Law Review 1997;65(3):799-864.
13. Roels L, ETCO President. Address delivered at the annual meeting of the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization (NATCO), Boston, 31 Jul 1995.
14. Lueck TJ. New York City wins an award for WHAT? Ties with far town in traffic safety as Auto Club cites a drop in deaths. New York Times 23 Sep 1999:B1, B6.
15. Bowden AB, Hull AR. Controversies in Organ Donation: A Summary Report. New York: The National Kidney Foundation, 1993:14; see also Timmermans S. Five vultures and one dead body: claiming jurisdiction and maintaining expertise in death investigation. Paper delivered on the panel "Jurisdictions of Authority and Expertise in Science and Medicine, " Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November, 2000
16. Bowden AB, Hull AR. Controversies in Organ Donation: A Summary Report. New York: The National Kidney Foundation, 1993:14; see also Timmermans S. Five vultures and one dead body: claiming jurisdiction and maintaining expertise in death investigation. Paper delivered on the panel "Jurisdictions of Authority and Expertise in Science and Medicine, " Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November, 2000.
17. For discussions of body ownership and commodification see: Andrews LB. My body, my property. Hastings Center Report 1986;16(5):28-38; Annas GJ. Whose waste is it anyway? the case of John Moore. Hastings Center Report 1988;18(5):37-9; Belk RW. Me and thee versus mine and thine: how perceptions of the body influence organ donation and transplantation. In: Shanteau J, Harris R, eds. Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavior Factors. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1990:139-49; and Sharp LA. Commodified kin: death, mourning, and competing claims on the bodies of organ donors in the United States. American Anthropologist 2001;103(1):112-133.
18. For discussions of body ownership and commodification see: Andrews LB. My body, my property. Hastings Center Report 1986;16(5):28-38; Annas GJ. Whose waste is it anyway? the case of John Moore. Hastings Center Report 1988;18(5):37-9; Belk RW. Me and thee versus mine and thine: how perceptions of the body influence organ donation and transplantation. In: Shanteau J, Harris R, eds. Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavior Factors. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1990:139-49; and Sharp LA. Commodified kin: death, mourning, and competing claims on the bodies of organ donors in the United States. American Anthropologist 2001;103(1):112-133.
19. For discussions of body ownership and commodification see: Andrews LB. My body, my property. Hastings Center Report 1986;16(5):28-38; Annas GJ. Whose waste is it anyway? the case of John Moore. Hastings Center Report 1988;18(5):37-9; Belk RW. Me and thee versus mine and thine: how perceptions of the body influence organ donation and transplantation. In: Shanteau J, Harris R, eds. Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavior Factors. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1990:139-49; and Sharp LA. Commodified kin: death, mourning, and competing claims on the bodies of organ donors in the United States. American Anthropologist 2001;103(1):112-133.
20. For discussions of body ownership and commodification see: Andrews LB. My body, my property. Hastings Center Report 1986;16(5):28-38; Annas GJ. Whose waste is it anyway? the case of John Moore. Hastings Center Report 1988;18(5):37-9; Belk RW. Me and thee versus mine and thine: how perceptions of the body influence organ donation and transplantation. In: Shanteau J, Harris R, eds. Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavior Factors. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1990:139-49; and Sharp LA. Commodified kin: death, mourning, and competing claims on the bodies of organ donors in the United States. American Anthropologist 2001;103(1):112-133.
21. My use of the expression "states' rights" is not meant to imply a particular political orientation, even though it is generally associated with conservative responses to federal civil rights actions decades ago. I seek instead to underscore the theme of national fragmentation.
22. Marchione M. Shalala slams 'hoarding of organs, ' demands fairer system: she also proposes a 10-point plan to improve children's health. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 8 Nov 1999.
23. For overviews of the new guidelines, including a discussion of local versus national rights to donated organs, see: Thomasma DC, Micetich KC, Brems J, VanThiel D. The ethics of competition in liver transplantation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 1999;8:321-9; and Stolberg SG. U.S. urges new rule on sharing donated organs. New York Times 3 Jun 1998:A14.
24. For overviews of the new guidelines, including a discussion of local versus national rights to donated organs, see: Thomasma DC, Micetich KC, Brems J, VanThiel D. The ethics of competition in liver transplantation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 1999;8:321-9; and Stolberg SG. U.S. urges new rule on sharing donated organs. New York Times 3 Jun 1998:A14.
25. For interesting comparative data on Europe see: Hogle LF. Recovering the Nation's Body: Cultural Memory, Medicine, and the Politics of Redemption. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1999.