Organ transplantation and meaning of life: the quest for self fulfilment

Abstract

Today, the frequency and the rate of success resulting from advances in medicine have made organ transplantations an everyday occurrence. Still, organ transplantations and donations modify the subjective experience of human beings as regards the image they have of themselves, of body, of life and of death. If the concern of the quality of life and the survival of the patients is a completely human phenomenon, the fact remains that the possibility of organ transplantation and its justification depend a great deal on the culture in which we live. The exploration of the philosophical tradition allows for a reconsideration of organ transplantation. If we listen to people who have experienced the decline of one of their organs and their own rebirth through the organ of someone else, we arrive at the conclusion that they went through an extreme experience in which nothing appeared as before. All those experiences intensify philosophical questionings on the meaning of life with respect to self fulfilment. The concept of nature as the experience of others can be an authentic source from which to nourish our thoughts about organ transplantation. However, and this is our hypothesis, we need something more if we are to decide something about our own life. We need a hermeneutical stance in relation to ourselves and to our world. Philosophical counselling, as a long established tradition originating with Pythagoras and later reframed by the German philosopher Achenbach could be useful in inspiring a reflection on the good life, chiefly as it takes the form of a Socratic dialogue.

The life and death construct in heart transplant patients

“…Patients therefore embrace a game between being alive/not alive, dead/not dead, which forces them to search for answers to understand these concepts as complementary; as two coexisting elements of the same reality. 13 One of the signs of modern life is 'the acknowledgment that science and technology are a double-edged sword, creating new boundaries of risk and danger while offering beneficial possibilities to humanity'. 30 With the changes in the conditions that define the beginning and the end of life for the human body, new possibilities emerge in the field of some terminal illnesses.…”

“…For example, the hearts of Richard the Lionheart, Braveheart, Shelley, Lord Byron, Voltaire and Chopin, among others, were buried separately from the rest of their bodies, with the purpose of keeping their bodies apart from what contained their very essence. 12,13 To date, research has not explored whether and how the concepts of life and death are experienced in heart transplant patients. With this study we intend to approach the phenomenon of heart transplants from an interdisciplinary perspective, to provide an understanding of the perception of life and death beyond the actual evidence and clinical processes which are associated to them.…”

“…For example, the hearts of Richard the Lionheart, Braveheart, Shelley, Lord Byron, Voltaire and Chopin, among others, were buried separately from the rest of their bodies, with the purpose of keeping their bodies apart from what contained their very essence. 12,13…”

Significados atribuidos por el paciente trasplantado al órganorecibido, al donante, a la vida y a la muerte

“…Se observa que el receptor puede generar estrategias para afrontar la carga afectiva del trasplante y de su relación con el donante, que pueden basarse tanto en elaborar formas o rituales de agradecimiento y retribución al donador (Fox y Swazey, 2002;Quintin, 2013; Scheper-Hughes, 2007, Shimazono, 2008 Sothern y Dickinson, 2011;Stein et al, 2008) como en acudir al pensamiento mágico (Goetzmann et al, 2009;Sanner, 2003;Ullrich et al, 2010;Vamos, 2010). Así, los receptores pueden presentar razonamiento de tipo mágico-mítico sobre la posibilidad de las características que el donante asimile psicológica y físicamente (Kierans, 2011; Neukom et al, 2012;Sanner, 2003;Sharp 1995Sharp , 2006.…”

“…Sin embargo, algunos investigadores, como Fox y Swazey, (2002), Quintin (2013) y Scheper-Hughes (2007, han estudiado el fenómeno denominado "la tiranía del regalo", una relación de inequidad entre receptor y donante, en la que el último le impone tanto explícita como implícitamente al primero una serie de retribuciones de distinto orden, de forma indefinida y acudiendo a la "deuda de vida" que existe entre ambos. Así, el receptor considera al donante como su salvador que ha sacrificado su bienestar y, por tanto, tiene una deuda irreparable con él (Lauritzen, Mcclure, Smith y Trew, 2001;Shimazono, 2008;Siminoff y Chillag, 1999;Sque y Payne, 1994).…”