Organ Transplantation

by David Petechuk

Overview

Every day, newspapers and television news programs present stories on the latest controversies over healthcare and medical advances, but they do not have the space to provide detailed background on the issues. Websites and weblogs provide information from activists and partisans intent on presenting their side of a story. But where can students - or even ordinary citizens - go to obtain unbiased, detailed background on the medical issues affecting their daily lives? This volume in the Health and Medical Issues Today series provides readers and researchers a balanced, in-depth introduction to the medical, scientific, legal, and cultural issues surrounding organ tranplants and its import in today's world of healthcare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313335426
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/30/2006
Series:	Health and Medical Issues Today
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

David Petechuk is the author of The Respiratory System in Greenwood Press's Human Body Systems series, and the editor of the quarterly newsletter of the Thomas A. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Section One Overview
1 A Brief History of Transplantation
2 Organ Procurement: Supply and Demand
3 Organ Allocation: Establishing a Fair System
4 Advances and the Future of Transplantation
Section Two Controversies and Issues Relating to Transplantation
5 Buying and Selling Organs for Donation
6 Organ Allocation: Who Should Get an Organ?
7 Xenotransplantation: Animal Use and Infectious Disease
8 Living Donors: Giving until It Hurts?
9 Stem Cell Transplantation and Research: A Question of Life?
10 Face Transplants: Some Ethical Considerations
Section Three References and Resources
A Annotated Primary Source Documents
B Timeline for Transplantation Issues
C Glossary
D Further Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

The first section of this book by Petechuk is titled Overview, but its four chapters, which cover history, organ procurement, organ allocation, and advances in transplantation, are all heavily imbued with ethical concerns. The six chapters of section 2, Controversies and Issues Relating to Transplantation, focus very specifically on the ethical issues of buying and selling organs, organ allocation, xenotransplantation, living donors, stem cell transplantation and research, and face transplants. An appendix of primary source documents provides a few brief government documents on various issues. The time line (in an appendix) reveals that the concept of organ transplantation existed as long ago as 400 BCE. A two-page glossary provides greater accessibility for readers without any health science knowledge. The bibliography is current, with entries as recent as 2005. A list of organizations and Web resources completes the text. This is a useful resource….Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates, two-year technical program students, and general readers.” —Choice

“Medical writer Petechuk explains all the sides of the issues for the informed general reader and beginning students, giving a brief history and describing organ procurement as an example of supply and demand, fair organ allocation, and future advanced anticipated, buying and selling organs, prioritizing potential recipients, animal use and infectious disease, living donors, stem cell transplantation, and the ethics behind face transplants. References given here include annotated primary source documents, a timeline, a glossary, and a list of further reading.” —SciTech Book News

From the Publisher