ABSTRACT
The social enterprise of organ transplantation, which comprises the technique itself, its funding, the selection and care of donors and recipients, and much else besides, is similarly shaped by a set of ethical and social norms. This chapter examines the notion of "experimental" treatment; the concept of the "medically unsuitable" potential recipient; the standard of voluntarism in donation; and the definition of death. New professions and paraprofessions are created, such as "scavengers", whose skills may be useful only in the transplantation enterprise. The decision whether to accept a type of organ transplantation as proven seems transparently to be a decision whether to offer access to that treatment for those with general entitlements to health care. Moral concern over the trend away from complete voluntarism in organ donation is sometimes voiced as a concern that transplantation policy is heading down a slippery slope.
