The Courage to Fail
A Social View of Organ Transplants and Dialysis

This work explores the various social phenomena generated by transplantation and dialysis. Within this context, the authors study individuals involved and the workings and the atmospheres of some of the medical centres.

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.