In our society, we give gifts for one of two reasons. We either give them out of love or out of obligation. In much of the rhetoric surrounding organ transplants, organs are described as gifts that donors are giving to recipients. In her introduction to “Strange Harvest”, Lesley Sharp describes this phenomenon: “Today the language of the gift permeates nearly all discussions of organ transfer, which is defined as a very particular kind of social giving in America. Most important, organs are nearly always described as “gifts of life” (13). Sharp describes organ donation as a very particular kind of gift, but I think most organ transplant situations can fit in to one of the two gift categories.
Procurement specialists have the very difficult job of approaching a family on the verge of losing a loved one and asking them about organ donation. In the eyes of the grieving family, they are seen as a bad guy trying to take what little shred of life their loved one is holding on to. To make the process easier, these specialists often use the language of gift giving to make the family feel more at ease about their decision. On UMPC’s transplant services website, the information section about being a donor organ states “You have the power to save lives and improve the quality of life of those in need of any form of transplant.” UMPC doesn’t specifically use gift language, but they do use language that makes the donor family feel like they are helping their loved one do one last act of kindness.
I have seen firsthand the way UPMC, specifically Children’s Hospital, handles the donor end of this process. My nephew was three years old when he was declared brain dead after suffering from brain cancer for 6 months. As the family was called in for our last goodbyes, a procurement specialist came in to the room and asked us to step outside. My sister was told that the cancer treatments had ruined most of the organs in Cooper’s body, but that the corneas are not affected by chemo and radiation. She was asked if she would donate his eyes, but in the midst of the trauma, my sister made a quick decision to say no. The specialist used very specific language about how the donation of Cooper’s eyes would give another child the gift of sight. They also told her that she had the power to completely change a child’s life. Looking back now, she has said that she regrets the decision, but the informal and medical way that the specialist presented it made her feel like they only cared about his corneas.
I think most of the UPMC transplant website is similar to this sentiment. The main page, and many after that, boast medical statistics and findings, but very little is said about how they care for the emotional effects of organ transplantation. There is a distinct separation between donor and recipient, as Sharp tells us. The donors are told to think about the gift they are giving while recipients are told to not think about where the organ is coming from at all. The family is convinced through knowing how important this “gift” is, yet the recipient is actually told not to view it like that. In fact, UPMC’s website has an entire section about how to pay for this “gift”. Organ transplants are very expensive, and they instruct patient’s to undergo a credit analysis before their transplant evaluation. I’ve never had to have a credit check to receive a gift, and that takes away from the rhetoric the procurement professionals use.
Organ transplants are very important. However, it has become very controversial partly due to the language used surrounding the process. The kin of donors are told that their choice is out of “love”, but they use language that makes them feel obligated to save a life. On the other hand, recipients are made to feel like the organ has dropped from the sky and had no previous attachment. Navigating the feelings of participants on both ends is very complex because the process of organ transplantation is a very complex process in itself.
Sharp, Lesley A. Strange Harvest: Organ Transplants, Denatured Bodies, & the Transformed Self. Berkley: University of California Press, 2006. 1-41.
http://www.upmc.com/Services/TransplantationServices/transplant-upmc/Pages/transplant-upmc.aspx
Thanks for sharing that family experience, I think it is very useful in pointing out the delicate issues at hand in regards to organ transfer/transplant. Because these are all practices that involve humans and their bodies, issues of life and/or death, emotions run high and I think the medical establishment (may I say industry) in many cases is playing by those emotions. This is evidenced by the gift discourse you talk about and the many instances, like your personal story, in which those responsible for possible donors are made to feel socially obligated to give other's organs away.
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