The title of this profound work conveys the bold, uncertain, and often dangerous adventure in which medical professionals and their organ transplant and dialysis patients are engaged. Built around a series of case studies developed through years of first-hand ethnographic research, The Courage to Fail is the product of collaborative first-hand research concerned with various social phenomena generated by transplantation and dialysis and also by the development and deployment of an artificial heart. The authors examine the individuals involved and the workings and atmosphere of some of the medical centers in which these forms of therapy have been developed. They examine "gift-exchange" dimensions of transplantation: the transcendent and tyrannical aspects of the "gift of life" that transplants entail for donors and recipients -- and for medical professionals as well. They also analyze the dilemma of uncertainty inherent in medicine, which occurs with particular force in the development of such experimental techniques.

Since publication of the original edition, the authors have continued to follow social and medical developments surrounding organ transplants and dialysis. In their new introduction, they discuss transplantation as a gift of life, how death is defined and when it occurs, efforts to procure more organs, and organ allocation and issues of equity. This book will be of interest to physicians, medical students, medical sociologists, and anyone interested in the history of and issues surrounding organ replacement.

The title of this profound work conveys the bold, uncertain, and often dangerous adventure in which medical professionals and their organ transplant and dialysis patients are engaged. Built around a series of case studies, The Courage to Fail is the product of collaborative first-hand research concerned with various social phenomena generated by transplantation and dialysis. The authors examine the individuals involved and the workings and atmosphere of some of the medical centers in which these forms of therapy have been developed. They examine "gift-exchange" dimensions of transplantation: the transcendent and tyrannical aspects of the "gift of life" that transplants entail for donors and recipients-and for medical professionals as well. They also analyze the dilemma of uncertainty inherent in medicine, which occurs with particular force in the development of such experimental techniques.Since publication of the original edition, the authors have continued to follow social and medical developments surrounding organ transplants and dialysis. In their new introduction, they discuss transplantation as a gift of life, how and when death occurs, efforts to procure more organs, and organ replacement and issues of equity. This book will be of interest to physicians, medical students, medical sociologists, and anyone interested in the history of and issues surrounding organ transplantation and dialysis.

The essays in this volume pay tribute to the achievements of RenUe C. Fox in the fields of medicine and sociology. Many of the contributors are Fox's colleagues and former students from medicine, sociology, nursing, and bioethics. The title--Society and Medicine--reflects the leitmotif in Fox's work: her studies of and teaching about the nature of medicine and medical research; the training and work of their practitioners; the interrelationships between medicine and the societies and cultures of which it is a part; and, above all, the moral and spiritual dimensions of the healing arts.

The essays in this volume pay tribute to the achievements of Renee C. Fox in the fields of medicine and sociology. Many of the contributors are Fox's colleagues and current and former students from medicine, sociology, nursing, and bioethics. The title -- Society and Medicine -- reflects the leitmotif in Fox's work: her studies of and teaching about the nature of medicine and medical research; the training and work of their practitioners; the interrelationships between medicine and the societies and cultures of which it is a part; and, above all, the moral and spiritual dimensions of the healing arts. The essays reflect the influence of her scholarship and teaching upon their authors, each of whom is a colleague or has studied with her, but this book is not a "festschrift" in the conventional sense. That is, although the essays recognize, and in many cases pay tribute to, her work, Society and Medicine is not a collection about the corpus of Renee Fox's writings and their influence. Rather, the topics addressed are connected, in various ways, to themes Fox has explored over the years in her own journeys in to the field, or the journeys she has inspired others to make.

The developments that have occurred in the field of organ transplantation during the 1980s and early 1990s, and the simultaneous rise and fall of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart are the subject of this vividly written and absorbing new volume. In Spare Parts, fascinating, interconnected stories of organ transplantation and the artificial heart are recounted in an interpretive framework that explores the vision of the "replaceable body." Themes of uncertainty, gift exchange, and the allocation of scarce material and non-material resources underscore a discussion that openly examines the escalating ardor about the goodness of repairing and remaking people with transplanted organs. Likewise, the stories open questions of life and death, identity, and solidarity. This important book offers insights into the symbolic and anthropomorphic meanings associated with the human body and its organs, and into the ways that medical professionals come to terms with the concomitant aspects of transferring vital body parts. Both artificial and donor organs, as well as the process of transplantation, are the subject of a thoughtful discussion which touches on the medical myths and rituals that they generate. Chronologically, Spare Parts begins where the authors' previous book, The Courage to Fail, leaves off. More than a sequel, however, this work reflects their increasingly troubled and critical reactions to the expansion of organ replacement. Likely to be controversial, this book is must reading for bioethicists, medical sociologists and anthropologists, health-care lawyers, planners and administrators, nurses and physicians, medical journalists and science writers, and concerned lay readers.