Episode 4

Organ transplantation in between life and death (Turkish)

In this episode of the Justice Atlas, we are looking at the intersections of health and justice, with the focus on organ transplants. We will be talking about the right to health and limits of it, together with Aslıhan Sanal from medical anthropology, organ transplant surgeon Cüneyt Kayaalp and medical lawyer Özge Yücel, starting with the case of kidney transplants.

The episode opens with the actor Nezaket Erden reading a story from Aslıhan Sanal’s book titled “New Organs, New Lives: Organ Transplantation, Ethics and Economy” published by Metis, which deals with the transplantation processes from both living and cadaveric bodies. Some of the questions we seek to answer in the chapter are as follows:

What kind of moral economy is at work in family organ transplants? How do inequalities and injustices in health services affect organ transplants? Why can't doctors declare brain death required for organ donation? How does distributive justice work in the distribution of small numbers of cadavers available? How can family members ignore donation wills? Who do our bodies belong to after we die?