Enveloped Lives : Caring and Relating in Lithuanian Health Care

Handing envelopes containing money or gifts to doctors in public health care is often seen as a remnant of socialism that continues as an integral part of the Lithuanian health care system. Rima Praspaliauskiene uses the envelope to explore complex doctor-patient interactions that go beyond notions of the gift or the bribe. She reshapes our definition of corruption and encourages seeing these practices as emerging forms of care that impede the neoliberal health care reforms effected in the post-Soviet era.

Enveloped Lives extends the analytical categories of gift, care, money, and transparency, shifting attention away from material transactions by prioritizing relations and practices that transcend economic rationality. At a time when health care reforms and the costs of care are being widely debated, this book is a contribution to the larger discussion about the ethics and future of health care around the world.

Rima Praspaliauskiene is a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at the University of California, Berkeley.