Human dissection and organ donation: a historical and social background

'Saying no to organ donation': an empirical typology of reluctance and rejection

In Germany, as well as in other countries, organ shortages are usually explained by a relative unwillingness to donate among a population which is assumed to be caused by a lack of information and mistrust of the system. As we can see in the data of our qualitative research (focus groups and interviews), lack of information or mistrust are not the only reasons for people to be reluctant to agree to the donation of their organs after death. In fact we can identify four positions: (1) information deficit; (2) mistrust; (3) no killing; and (4) bodily integrity. The first and second are the two prominent explanations in the public discourse about low donation rates. The third and the fourth instead have neither been adequately articulated nor been discussed as a proper argument. Therefore, by means of sociology of critique, we discuss their contribution to the discourse as comprehensible reasons for reluctance and present them as credible positions of criticism: These two positions illuminate fundamental and universal values of the inviolability of the person and human dignity. Thus, both positions are consistent and morally justifiable and should be addressed with sensitivity.

All Eyes on Egypt: Islam and the Medical Use of Dead Bodies Amidst Cairo's Political Unrest

Using dead bodies for medical purposes has long been considered taboo in Egypt. Public health campaigns, physicians' pleas, and the urgings of religious scholars all failed to alter public opinion regarding the donation of dead bodies either for instructional material or for therapeutic treatments. Yet in 2011, amid revolutionary turmoil in Egypt, a campaign was launched for people to donate their eyes upon death; this time, people readily signed up to be donors. Focusing on mass eye trauma that occurred in Egypt amid the political uprisings of 2011, I raise questions about when and why Islam can explain people's attitudes and behaviors, particularly toward death and medicine. The case of mass eye trauma in Egypt and citizens' reformulations of questions once jealously controlled by state-aligned doctors, politicians, and religious scholars unsettles the boundaries between 'religion' and 'secularism' in medical practice. [Formula: see text].

The Dark Value of Criminal Bodies: Context, Consent, and the Disturbing Sale of John Parker's Skull

The recent sale of a human skull at an auction in Sussex should raise ethical concerns. Whenever human body parts are sold or put in a glass case and displayed for public view people should be provided with context and extensively informed about what they see. The gaze is never innocent, and to ignore the particular journeys that body parts take into auction rooms, anatomy departments, and museums is to be complicit in acts of historical injustice. In this case the skull was that of John Parker, who was executed by hanging in 1813. The likelihood that this was illicitly obtained by medical professionals means that the sale of the skull at auction two hundred years later is fraught with ethical problems. Along with a discussion of context, fragments like Parker's skull must therefore also become part of a debate about consent. Issues of context and consent can help us think about the display of human remains in museums in a manner that is intimate and 'disturbingly informative' (Mütter Museum 2014). However, the sale of Parker's skull - described as an 'antique piece' in the press coverage (BBC News 2014) - is a reminder that the global marketplace in objectified body parts is disturbing in quite a different manner.

Organ transplantation and magical thinking

Organ transplantation can provide important treatment benefits in a variety of situations. While a number of live donor procedures are now possible, procurement of organs from dead donors remains the mainstay of transplant programmes. However, cadaveric donation rates remain much lower than anticipated, and some patients who receive organs struggle to adapt to their new body. The reasons for this are not entirely explained by rational or logical means. This paper uses concepts drawn from magical thinking to try to explain some of the less apparent issues at play within the process of cadaveric organ transplantation, including both the donation and receiving of organs. Three themes are explored as potentially relevant: superstitions and rituals around death and the dead body, incorporation and the meanings attached to the transplanted organ, and survivor guilt. All three are shown to be relevant for some part of the transplantation process in at least a minority of cases. It is therefore suggested that focusing not only on the logical and scientific, but also on the ambiguous and magical may enhance the organ donation process and thus increase donation rates and the psychological adjustment of transplant recipients.