Kidney to Share - (Culture and Politics of Health Care Work) by Martha Gershun & John D Lantos (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A woman who decides to donate a kidney to a stranger tells her story, and a bioethicist reviews the history of ethical controversies surrounding organ donation. These different perspectives on kidney donation give the reader a sense of how this medical technology has evolved and how ethics and the law have changed to make organ donation possible"--

Book Synopsis

In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes readers through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. John D. Lantos, a physician and bioethicist, places Gershun's story in the larger context of the history of kidney transplantation and the ethical controversies that surround living donors. Together, they help readers understand the discoveries that made transplantation relatively safe and effective as well as the legal, ethical, and economic policies that make it feasible.

Gershun and Lantos explore the steps involved in recovering and allocating organs. They analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise--and the shortcomings--of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on people who are willing to donate. In this raw and vivid book, Gershun and Lantos ask us to consider just how far society should go in using one person's healthy body parts in order to save another person.

Kidney to Share provides an account of organ donation that is both personal and analytical. The combination of perspectives leads to a profound and compelling exploration of a largely opaque practice. Gershun and Lantos pull back the curtain to offer readers a more transparent view of the fascinating world of organ donation.

Review Quotes

Kidney to Share provides an account of organ donation that is both personal and analytical. The combination of perspectives leads to a profound and compelling exploration of a largely opaque practice. [The authors] pull back the curtain to offer readers a more transparent view of the fascinating world of organ donation.

-- "Midwest Book Review"

About the Author

Martha Gershun is the former Executive Director of Jackson County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). She is author of Care & Custody, and her work has appeared in The Kansas City Star, The New York Times Magazine, Kveller, and The Radcliffe Quarterly. Follow her on X @mgershun.

John D. Lantos, MD, is Director of the Bioethics Center at Children's Mercy Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. His books include Do We Still Need Doctors, Neonatal Bioethics, and Controversial Bodies. He is Associate Editor of American Journal of Bioethics, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, and Current Problems in Pediatrics and Adolescent Health Care. Follow him on X @johnlantos.