Lifegifts: The Real Story of Organ Transplants

Maria Issa is a research associate in the Department of Laboratory
Medicine at the University of British Columbia.

Lifegifts proposes a new mindset to medical practitioners and consumers:
replace that faulty part! Although transplantation medicine is long past
its infancy, there is still an aura of the experimental about it. In
fact, for the recipient, transplantation can give a new lease on
life—and a release from heavy financial commitments from the treatment
of a chronically failing organ. The benefits are considerable.

In this book, Stiller wonders why there is such reticence when it comes
to organ donations. He terms this situation “good luck, bad luck,”
because despite the existence of Transplant Centers, organ acquisition
is at best erratic. To determine the cause of the unreliable access to
donor organs, he explores the attitudes of the medical community, the
donor’s families, the media, and the response of the major religions.
He concludes that the will to aid others is present, it just needs
development, training, and communication. This book is intended as a
first step in that direction. Although somewhat reiteratively, a good
case is made for transplantation: this book should be on the reading
list of every health professional training course. Excellent appendices,
poignant case histories, an outline of the research backing the medical
advances, and an honest, critical appraisal of philosophical questions
leads the reader to sign that organ donor card.