A Death Retold: Jesica Santillan, the Bungled Transplant, and Paradoxes of Medical Citizenship

by Keith Wailoo (Editor), Julie Livingston (Editor), Peter Guarnaccia (Editor)

Overview

In February 2003, an undocumented immigrant teen from Mexico lay dying in a prominent American hospital due to a stunning medical oversight--she had received a heart-lung transplantation of the wrong blood type. In the following weeks, Jesica Santillan's tragedy became a portal into the complexities of American medicine, prompting contentious debate about new patterns and old problems in immigration, the hidden epidemic of medical error, the lines separating transplant "haves" from "have-nots," the right to sue, and the challenges posed by "foreigners" crossing borders for medical care.

This volume draws together experts in history, sociology, medical ethics, communication and immigration studies, transplant surgery, anthropology, and health law to understand the dramatic events, the major players, and the core issues at stake. Contributors view the Santillan story as a morality tale: about the conflicting values underpinning American health care; about the politics of transplant medicine; about how a nation debates deservedness, justice, and second chances; and about the global dilemmas of medical tourism and citizenship.

Contributors:
Charles Bosk, University of Pennsylvania
Leo R. Chavez, University of California, Irvine
Richard Cook, University of Chicago
Thomas Diflo, New York University Medical Center
Jason Eberl, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Jed Adam Gross, Yale University
Jacklyn Habib, American Association of Retired Persons
Tyler R. Harrison, Purdue University
Beatrix Hoffman, Northern Illinois University
Nancy M. P. King, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Barron Lerner, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Susan E. Lederer, Yale University
Julie Livingston, Rutgers University
Eric M. Meslin, Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Susan E. Morgan, Purdue University
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, University of California, Berkeley
Rosamond Rhodes, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Carolyn Rouse, Princeton University
Karen Salmon, New England School of Law
Lesley Sharp, Barnard and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Lisa Volk Chewning, Rutgers University
Keith Wailoo, Rutgers University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807877524
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	09/15/2009
Series:	Studies in Social Medicine
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Keith Wailoo is Martin Luther King Professor of History and author of the award-winning Dying in the City of the Blues: Sickle Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race and Health (from the University of North Carolina Press).
Julie Livingston is assistant professor of history and author of Debility and the Moral Imagination in Botswana.
Peter Guarnaccia is a medical anthropologist in the Department of Human Ecology and has published numerous articles on cross-cultural issues in mental health.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The linchpin for this remarkable set of essays is the death of an illegal immigrant due to a 'botched' transplant. Situating discussion of this particular medical error and responses to it in a broad context, contributors raise vexing questions about medical citizenship, human rights and justice, immigration policies, and the global activity of organ tourism and trafficking. Intransigent moral and social problems associated with transplant technology are laid bare for critical reflection.—Margaret Lock, author of Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death



This is a fascinating volume full of divergent takes on a difficult set of issues. It expands the all-too-narrow contemporary boundaries of bioethics by taking a view beyond academic philosophy. As a whole the volume adds considerably to the understanding of celebrated cases such as that of Jesica Santillan.—Walter M. Robinson, Dalhousie Medical School



The authors of these essays come from a wide range of disciplines; together, they achieve a rare kind of interactive interdisciplinarity. Because of its scope, its human poignancy, its narrative and literary qualities, and its bearing upon important social and cultural phenomena and issues that at once include and transcend organ transplantation and medicine, this volume should have a wide-ranging, appreciative audience.—Renee C. Fox, Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania

Editorial Reviews

Well worth reading. . . . Recommended.—CHOICE



Provides inspiration and insight . . . for those grappling with the paradoxes of organ transplants in other settings.—Medical History



This valued text belongs on the reference shelves in the libraries of our colleges of medicine and nursing, as this text could serve as the primary reference for an entire semester ethics course.—Journal of the National Medical Association



This cautionary tale is well worth reading. Recommended.—CHOICE



Experts in history, sociology, medical ethics, communication, immigrations studies, transplant surgery, anthropology, and health law . . . provide a broad overview of some of the most interesting issues facing organ transplantation today. . . . A very worthwhile read.—American Journal of Transplantation

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Gene Edward Ridolfi, RN, BA (Washington University School of Medicine)
Description: This book discusses the events surrounding the bungled heart-lung transplant for a 17-year-old girl who initially received organs of the wrong blood type at Duke University Medical Center in 2003. It approaches the event from the perspective of the exporting Organ Procurement Organization's (OPO) process, the importing OPO, and the staff and surgeons at the accepting transplant center. The book also discusses the decisions surrounding the second transplant the patient underwent two weeks later. The patient died after the second operation.
Purpose: The purpose is to understand the sequence of events surrounding the bungled transplant and the retransplant. It also raises questions about organ allocation, retransplant criteria, and, because the girl was smuggled illegally into the U.S. to get treatment, illegal aliens. These are all worthy objectives. The book raises many questions about organ availability and allocation and recipient selection.
Audience: It is intended primarily for clinical staff associated with the allocation of organs and transplant centers as well as screeners for recipient candidacy and acceptors of organs. The book also would be of interest to students, practitioners, and clinicians with a focus on ethics.
Features: This book covers all of the issues concerning the transplant, from the allocation and recipient process to the ethical issues surrounding the questions of the patient's citizenship and retransplantation. It also highlights the impact of the U.S. press, a most interesting discussion. One shortcoming of the book is in the explanation of organ allocation, specifically match runs, open ended offer, etc.
Assessment: This is a very interesting read. It made me think about the many other issues that surround and impact the theater of organ donation and transplantation.

Doody's Review Service