Organ Donation in Japan

Yasuoka’s thoughtful study traces the bumpy road to successful organ transplantation in Japan, where cadaveric (brain dead) donation, though legal, has continued to generate widespread suspicion and resistance for over three decades. An engrossing and accessible account, this work carefully probes professional and lay parties’ personal narratives, an approach that offers new insights into this persistent medical conundrum. -- Lesley A. Sharp, Barnard College; Columbia University Not since the 2001 publication of Margaret Lock’s Twice Dead have we been able to follow the emerging story of organ transplantation in Japan. Japanese medical anthropologist Maria Yasuoka thus offers us a timely and sensitive ethnographic portrayal of the hopes, realities, and ongoing challenges faced by Japanese transplant surgeons, organ recipients, and donor families. Foregrounding the narratives of these various parties, Organ Donation in Japan represents a major contribution to medical anthropology, bioethics, and Asian studies. -- Marcia Inhorn, Yale University Japanese medical systems have been reluctant to procure organs from brain-dead donors whose hearts continue to beat with the aid of ventilators. Yasuoka’s study provides a fascinating account of the stories of the few Japanese donor families and organ recipients, as well as of the transplant surgeons, and coordinators who take part in this controversial practice. Yasuoka’s writing is sensitive to an emerging medical field that has been racked with public debate, scandal, malpractice, medical mistrust, organ tourism, tragic and sudden deaths, as well as moments of intense generosity and sacrifice moved by the promise of saving lives -- Sherine Hamdy, Brown University