Death Retold : consuming diffrences
The Globalization of Transplant
no shortage of people willing to sell their organs
scarcity of buyers with means and independence and willingness to bend and break laws
The gift of life and transplant ethics
Jesica Santillan - ethical "gray zone"
origin of transplant "gift of life" / "gift of death"
internal network
foreigners not allowed because they can't reciprocate
Changes
- spread of technology -> internal circulation / consumption to open and extraterritorial
- related to living unrelated
Altruistic living donation
"Gabriella Dove"
Zell Kravinsky
altruistic suicide
selling organ retains elements of gift relationship
Individual penance and restitution
eg self flagellations / Catholicism. - individual freedom anchored in religious and cultural traditions
diametrically opposed
a. medical ethic of clinic and emergency room = save the sickest
b. ethic of lifeboat and battlefield = save the salvageable and allow sickest to die
"democratized" medical consumers challenging the rationing
Move to Organs markets
blend of aritotelian theories of virtue and hippocratic ethic of individualism
doctors adopt utilitarian ethics towards right to buy and sell to allow patients to travel abroad to purchase organs
The Organs Watch Project
spread of technology -> from closed, internal circulation / consumption to open and extraterritorial
dual "waiting list"
sickness
misery
trading body parts -- support from
neoliberal economics / economic liberalism
neoliberal political discourse
patient centric ethics
Transplant Tourism
economic and politically dispossed
refugees, homeless, street children, undocumented workers, prisoners, AWOL soldiers, aging prostitutes, cigarette smugglers, petty thieves, and other marginalized people