Animal, mechanical, and me organ transplantation and the ambiguity of embodiment

Organ donation and transplantation is a largely successful treatment used to replace failing organs. However, donation rates have never met the demand for transplantable or gans. Biomedical researchers are exploring alternative sources from nonhuman animal donors such as pigs; improved biotechnologi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Haddow, Gillian
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, N.Y. Oxford University Press [2019], 2019
Online Access:
Collection: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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Summary:Organ donation and transplantation is a largely successful treatment used to replace failing organs. However, donation rates have never met the demand for transplantable or gans. Biomedical researchers are exploring alternative sources from nonhuman animal donors such as pigs; improved biotechnological solutions such as total artificial hearts; and 3D printed organs developed from the recipient's own cells. These solutions are in various stages of development, and they may or may not prove viable in terms of cost, functionality, and/or compatibility with the recipient's body. In this chapter, I ask not about the viability of these proposed solutions, but rather, about the acceptability of the various technologies to potential recipients. Simply put: were these organ transplant alternatives to become available, would patients agree to them? Analyzing answers from fo cus group interviews and surveys, I use the responses to show that individuals imagine these various technologies as familiar or foreign, self or other, clean or dirty, and so on
Item Description:Chapter 10 of the book: The Oxford handbook of the sociology of body and embodiment / edited by Natalie Boero and Katherine Mason. New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2019
Physical Description:1 PDF file (14 pages)
ISBN:9780190842475