A Death Retold
Subtitle: Jesica Santillan, the Bungled Transplant, and Paradoxes of Medical Citizenship (Studies in Social Medicine)
Contributors: Keith Wailoo (Editor); Julie Livingston (Editor); Peter Guarnaccia (Editor)
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: October 11, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9780807857731
Subjects: Ethical issues & debates; Health systems & services; Medical ethics; Transplant surgery; Transfusion; Health Care Issues; Complications; United States; Medical; Medical / Nursing; Health Care Delivery; Heart; Ethics; Medical / Ethics; heart-lung transplant; botched transplant; Duke Hospital; Jesica Santillan; blood type error; medical malpractice; transplant procedures; Durham, North Carolina; organ donation; organ transplant; organ allocation; health care for undocumented immigrants; organ transplant ethics; Charles Bosk; Leo R. Chavez; Richard Cook; Thomas Diflo; Jason Eberl; Jed Adam Gross;; Blood; Transplantation; Lungs
Description: In February 2003, a teen illegal alien from Mexico lay dying in a prominent American hospital due to a stunning medical oversightshe 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.