Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death.

Lock, Margaret. Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002.

Although clinical treatment for trauma is similar in virtually all countries where the necessary medical facilities are present, and the term brain death is used universally today, the consequences of this diagnosis vary considerably Brain death is not necessarily equated with the death of individuals. This book explores the way in which developments in medical technology have forced a reconsideration of the recognized boundaries between life and death, and how these debates reflect deeply held social values and political interests. It is striking that in Japan, in contrast to North America and most of Europe, recognition of brain death as human death has proved to be an exceedingly contentious issue. By exploring in parallel the situation in North America and...