Culture of Reform and Death Elly Wagnild and Calen Dehen

Critical Medical Anthropology “Critical medical anthropology can be defined as a theoretical and practical effort to understand and respond to issues and problems of health, illness, and treatment in terms of the interaction between the macrolevel of political economy, the national level of political and class structure, the institutional level of the health care system, the community level of popular and folk beliefs and actions, the microlevel of illness experience, behavior, and meaning, human physiology, and environmental factors” (Singer, 1995).

Definition of Death “Thus, mortality was medicalized in order to combat death and disease. Today death is "measurable" and legally recognizable as an absence of neuronal functioning or, alternatively, of respiration and a heartbeat. Having apparently been stripped of culture, death can no longer transcend biology to act as a touchstone for coming to terms with mortality” (Lock, 1996).

Brain Dead: What It Is, What It Isn’t

Small Group Discussion Question What is your personal definition of death? Does it match with the generally accepted Western definition presented by Lock (total brain death)? How could harvesting a heart for transplant be seen as murder for some individuals, and saving a life for others?

Discussion Question The Japanese view is culturally anomalous to the western view. ●“Over the years the number of people who recognize brain death has increased from 29 percent to nearly 50 percent. In all of the surveys, a paradox is evident, however: many people approve of organ transplants from brain dead patients although they themselves do not accept brain death as the end of life” (Lock, 1996). ●“... the spirit of the deceased is often anthropomorphized and is believed to experience the same feelings as the living. Hence, relatives have an obligation to make the spirit "happy" and "comfortable." People were in agreement that it is important for a dead body to be brought home, and that a corpse should be complete (gotai manzoku), otherwise the spirit will suffer and may cause harm to the living” (Lock, 1996). What complications arise from the lack of a universal definition of death? What are the ethical implications of imposing western biomedical ideas regarding transplant on immigrants from Japan, and other countries?

Paul Farmer: I Believe In Healthcare As A Human Right

Discussion Question “One of the issues under examination in this new phase is the ability of critical medical anthropology to move beyond the academy, the scholarly conference, and the academic journal into the applied field of clinics, health education and development projects, federal health research institutes, international health bodies, private voluntary organizations, health movements, and community- based agencies” (Singer, 1995). This video demonstrates the concept of blending critical medical anthropology into the medical field. To what extent is it feasible for these two fields to work together to make long-term changes in a reform strategy?