Spare Parts

“It is refreshing to see a book that cuts through the perfervid media attention that often surrounds organ transplantation and challenges us to assess the practice more realistically. They discuss developments in immunosuppressive drugs, the psychological complexities of organs as gifts, the emergence of cluster or multiorgan transplants, the use of living related and nonrelated donors, and market efforts to increase organ supply. The strength of this part ofthe book is its moving reminder of the emotional complexity of the giving and receiving of organs and of how great technological promises are usually followed by dashed hopes, which they illustratewith the shifting fortunes of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine, key to the 1980s increase in transplantation. In the end, Fox and Swazey provide valuable insights into the abuses that can occur in the process of technological innovation and identify many of the problematics of solid-organ transplantation.” –Science”Spare Parts offers a critical and compelling account of US medicine’s ongoing fascination with organ replacement. In Spare Parts, Fax and Swazey deliver an engrossing account of medicine’s preoccupation with organ replacement through a combination of insightful observations, lively argumentation, and moving personal accounts.” –AMA”The authors’ perspective highlights the personal and societal problems engendered by these immensely difficult, risky, costly procedures. This fascinating book has messages for all of us.” –The Pharos”A mine of data and background information. The authors go behind the scenes and show what is really happening behind the headlines. … A fascinating revelation.” –Bioethics”Fox and Swazey are the most knowledgeable and experienced analysts of the development of organ transplantation. They tell the inside sory of [the Jarvik-7 artificial heart] better than it has ever been told before.” –Annals of Internal Medicine”Provides a unique view of the world of transplantation… . a fascinating behind-the-scenes view.” –Paul J. Brooks, American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy”An encyclopedic source….This is an important book which warrants close study and thought by all those who share an in-depth or even cursory interest in the area of replacement therapy or organ transplantation.” –vor Lensworth Livingston (Howard University), Social Science and Medicine, UK”Can be profitably read by those looking for a concise source of details about recent trends in transplantation. Readers will find many useful references and quotations, as well as interview materials gathered by the authors that are not available elsewhere….A wealth of details and analysis.” –Peter A. Ubel, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Ethics”A historical, sociological, and moral essay on organ replacement in American society….But this is more than just an academic study. Through its carefully grounded analysis, [it] is a powerful indictment of recent trends in American biomedicine and American culture….Because of their unique access to the physicians and patients involved in these biomedical events, Fox and Swazey’s study becomes a narrative-…whose interrelatedness to American culture isconstantly reiterated. This style of presentation allows us to be drawn into the history, and into the stories of medical heroism and medical defeat. To the authors’ great credit, they include manyvoices: doctors, patients, organ donors and recipients, families, and even poets….Spare Parts draws together a truly remarkable array of interdisciplinary information, sources, materials, and perspectives.” –Gail Henderson, University of North Carolina at Chape Hill, American Journal of Sociology”Excellent–very current information, easy, enjoyable to read.“–Lydia D. Schafer, PhD”Renee Fox and Judith Swazey’s Spare Parts: Organ Replacement in American Society offers a close, critical examination of the contemporary American project of organ transplantation.“–Brett-Jane Crigger, Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Renee C. Fox is Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences and Emerita Senior Fellow of the Center for Bioethics both at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she has also taught at Barnard College, Harvard University and was visiting professor at the University of Oxford. She has done substantial field research in the United States, Europe, China, and Central Africa, and is the author of numerous books including most recently Observing Bioethics.

In 2010, Professor Fox received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University, and the citation read: “Exemplary exp