Body Recycling

Organ Transplantation

One of the largest areas of literature on body recycling centers on organ transplantation. In the United States, the demand for organs far exceeds the number of organs available. In the year 2000, for example, approximately 5,000 to 6,000 people died while waiting for an organ (Fauber 2001). Recent estimates suggest that cadaveric donation rates in the United States remain steady at 4,500 to 5,000 per year while the number of patients on transplantation waiting lists continues to increase significantly. At the end of 1990, for example, there were 20,481 patients on waiting lists for organs (Lou 2001:1). By 2003, this number had grown to more than 80,000 (Villarosa 2003:A22). The escalating difference between supply and demand exists in other countries as well.

Anthropologists and sociologists have critically examined how scarce resources such as tissues and organs are allocated. These writers have demonstrated that social hierarchies such as class and race often influence the distribution of body parts (Fox and Swazey 1973, 1992; Kutner 1997; Spielman 1996; Veatch 2000). Despite efforts to make access to transplants equitable, significant barriers to transplantation surgery still exist.

Class status is a primary social factor that shapes the distribution of body parts. As sociologists Renee Fox and Judith Swazey (1992:75) note, a “green screen”—that is, ability to pay—influences who will receive organs and tissues in the United States. This bias toward wealthier individuals occurs because Medicare coverage does not reimburse all transplantation costs. This type of policy places a financial burden on the individual to cover the remaining costs—one that a low-income patient might not be able to meet. Similarly, health insurance policies may require patient contributions toward the total cost of transplantation and follow-up care. As with Medicare policies, this system of reimbursement is biased toward those who have the extra income to cover these expenses.

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