Replacement Parts: The Ethics of Procuring and Replacing Organs in Humans

In Replacement Parts, internationally recognized bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan and coeditors James J. McCartney and Daniel P. Reid assemble seminal writings from medicine, philosophy, economics, and religion that address the ethical challenges raised by organ transplantation. Caplan's new lead essay explains the shortfalls of present policies. From there, book sections take an interdisciplinary approach to fundamental issues like the determination of death and the dead donor rule; the divisive case of using anencephalic infants as organ donors; the sale of cadaveric or live organs; possible strategies for increasing the number of available organs, including market solutions and the idea of presumed consent; and questions surrounding transplant tourism and "gaming the system" by using the media to gain access to organs.

Timely and balanced, Replacement Parts is a first-of-its-kind collection aimed at surgeons, physicians, nurses, and other professionals involved in this essential lifesaving activity that is often fraught with ethical controversy.

Arthur L. Caplan is head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center and the author or editor of over thirty books and six hundred articles.

James J. McCartney is an associate professor in the Philosophy Department at Villanova University and an adjunct professor in its School of Law. In the past he has been the ethics consultant for several major health systems in the United States.

Daniel P. Reid is a recent graduate of Villanova University.