Bodyworlds and the ethics of using human remains: a preliminary discussion
Article Abstract:
Accepting the claim that the living have some moral duties with regard to dead bodies, this paper explores those duties and how they bear on the popular travelling exhibition Bodyworlds. I argue that the concept of informed consent presupposes substantial duties to the dead, namely duties that reckon with the meaning of the act in question. An attitude of respect and not regarding human remains as mere raw material are non-alienable substantial duties. I found the ethos of Bodyworlds premature but full of promises such as public attitudes to organ donations. At the practical level I conclude that Bodyworlds should use only willed donations or unclaimed bodies for which dignified funerals are not available. In the case of live donations, Bodyworlds has a duty to participate in the medical care of needy donors. However, secrecy with regard to the sources of cadavers seems to be the most troublesome aspect of Bodyworlds.
Publication Name: Bioethics
Subject: Philosophy and religion
ISSN: 0269-9702
Year: 2006
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Money talks, money kills - The economics of transplantation in Japan and China
Article Abstract:
Attitudes toward transplantation are not the same in China and Japan as they are in the rest of the world. These countries have resisted the trend of taking organs from those patients who are brain dead because of a Confucian respect for integrity of bodies of ancestors. The general populations of both countries still have major doubts about the practice of using tissues for others, but medical and political elites are moving quickly toward organ harvesting and marketing, based on economics. Brain-death legislation in Japan and executions of criminals in China are discussed.
Publication Name: Bioethics
Subject: Philosophy and religion
ISSN: 0269-9702
Year: 1999
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Elective ventilation
Article Abstract:
Issues related to the ethical aspects of elective ventilation for dying patients are examined, focusing on the use of elective ventilation to preserve organs that may be donated. Topics include the medical complications that may ensue while the patient is being kept alive through ventilation.
Publication Name: Bioethics
Subject: Philosophy and religion
ISSN: 0269-9702
Year: 2000
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