Introduction
Over the course of the twentieth century and in the twenty-first century, humanity achieved numerous advances in medicine. While death is still very much a reality, many once-fatal ailments are now treatable, and terminal patients have a chance to continue with their lives. However, such achievements come at a price, especially when the well-being of one individual can only be achieved at the expense of other. This is the case with organ donors and transplantation. And while the Western society on its own is split on the issue, the divide becomes even more evident when compared to the Eastern society and culture.
Main body
In her article “Displacing Suffering: The Reconstruction of Death in North America and Japan”, Margaret Lock studies the numerous ethical and legislative arguments in North America and Japan over the issues of major organ transplantation, and the related issue of defining when death has officially occurred (Lock 207).
The author begins the article by discussing how the past cessation of breathing used to be one of the recognized signs of death and how the development of the iron lung and later the artificial respirator meant that doctors worldwide had to redefine what was to be considered death, the irreversible loss of a human life. The outcome of this debate was the “whole-brain death” as the equivalent to the end of life. The doctors in North America received a window between brain death and death of the body to “harvest” organs which might save lives of other people. However, some of the public feel discomfort over whether these donors are alive or dead, and whether the doctors can be trusted to not exploit the situation.
Lock then describes how Japan took these sentiments even further, despite having some of the most advanced medical technology, by generally putting itself in opposition to post-mortem organ harvesting as well as transplantations. This is attributed to the cultural and theological outlooks of the Japanese, who value the dead, see tinkering with dead bodies as “unnatural” as well as their desire to protect their culture from the cold, intrusive Western influence.
Lock discusses at length the different countries attitudes towards death and transplantation, the value attributed to the lives of organ donors and receivers, and builds her argument about how the suffering and needs of an individual get overlooked in the political, cultural and ethical debates on both coasts of the Pacific.
Margaret Lock is very careful at immersing the target audience, who are most likely her colleagues and people involved in the debates, into the discussion, and remains impartial while presenting arguments for and against brain death as a sign of cessation of life and organ transplantation. She uses these points of view to put forth her thoughts. First, even though Western culture has accepted transplantation, but requires a more social definition of what constitutes death, to avoid exploitation as well as public backlash. The second one shows how the Japanese culture, religion and tradition has trouble reinterpreting themselves in the face of the medical advances, causing stagnation in the transplantation debate, which in no way helps the suffering people.
She is very effective at building her theoretical framework in the article, drawing information from numerous sources, covering many opinions. She studies medical, ethical and philosophical sources on the issues, and uses them in a way that supports her case.
Among the weaknesses of the work is that the author takes a long time to state the thesis of her article, and spends a bulk of text discussing issues tangibly related to the subject, which makes it harder to understand what opinions she is trying to push forward.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this is a well-researched article that is effective at setting the scene and introducing unfamiliar readers to the problems discussed. Lock uses her sources efficiently and is successful at pointing out the problems that are of interest to her.
Works Cited
Lock, Margaret. “Displacing Suffering: The Reconstruction of Death in North America and Japan”. Daedalus 125.1 (1996): 207–244. Web.