Hagai Boas - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Hagai Boas
Semi-Directed Living Donors in Israel: Socio-Demographic Profile, Religiosity, and Social Tolerance
American Journal of Transplantation
Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volu... more Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volunteer to donate their kidney to patients with whom they do not have personal acquaintance. We refer to the first group as Directed Living Donors (DLD) and the second as Semi-Directed Living Donors (SDLD). The incidence of SDLD in Israel is around 60%, the highest in the world. We introduce results of a survey among 749 living donors (349 SDLD and 400 DLD). Our data illustrate the socio-demographic profile of the two groups as well as their answers to a series of questions regarding spirituality and social tolerance. We find SDLD to be sectorial: they are mainly married middle-class religious men who reside in small communities. We found no significant difference however between SDLD and DLD in their social tolerance. Both groups ranked high and expressed tolerance towards different social groups. SDLD enables donors to express general preferences as to the socio-demographic features of their respected recipients. This stirs a heated debate on the ethics of SDLD. Our study discloses a comprehensive picture of the profile and attitudes of SDLD in Israel, which adds valuable data to the ongoing debate on the legitimacy of SDLD.
Social Science and Medicine, 2024
While the academic literature engages in parallel discussions about different ethical and controv... more While the academic literature engages in parallel discussions about different ethical and controversial aspects in the practices of organ donation and surrogacy, this current research seeks to bring them together and discuss them through the voices of the agents themselves, kidney donors to strangers and surrogates. Based on a focus group that convened both groups in a series of meetings, participants discussed the commonalities and differences between the two practices. The decision to help by becoming a surrogate or an organ donor and the autonomy in selecting the recipient surfaced as a central theme for both groups. Freedom of choice was conceived ambivalently: it is indispensable on the one hand and bewildering and confusing on the other. This paper follows the dilemmas, considerations, and limitations that accompany living organ donors and surrogates in selecting their recipients.
transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2021
American Journal of Transplantation , 2023
Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volu... more Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volunteer to donate their kidney to patients with whom they do not have personal acquaintance. We refer to the first group as Directed Living Donors (DLD) and the second as Semi-Directed Living Donors (SDLD). The incidence of SDLD in Israel is around 60%, the highest in the world. We introduce results of a survey among 749 living donors (349 SDLD and 400 DLD). Our data illustrate the socio-demographic profile of the two groups as well as their answers to a series of questions regarding spirituality and social tolerance. We find SDLD to be sectorial: they are mainly married middle-class religious men who reside in small communities. We found no significant difference however between SDLD and DLD in their social tolerance. Both groups ranked high and expressed tolerance towards different social groups. SDLD enables donors to express general preferences as to the socio-demographic features of their respected recipients. This stirs a heated debate on the ethics of SDLD. Our study discloses a comprehensive picture of the profile and attitudes of SDLD in Israel, which adds valuable data to the ongoing debate on the legitimacy of SDLD.
Monash Bioethics Review, 2023
Figuring out what pushes individuals to become organ donors has become the holy grail of social s... more Figuring out what pushes individuals to become organ donors has become the holy grail of social scientists interested in transplantations. In this paper I concentrate on solidarity as a determinant of organ donation and examine it through the history of organ donation in Israel. By following the history of transplantation policies since 1968 and examining them in relation to different types of solidarities, this paper leads to a nuanced understanding of the ties between solidarity and health policy. Attempts to foster an all-encompassing consensus on the definition of brain death yielded the Transplantation and the Brain-Respiratory Death Laws of 2008. It was hoped that a wide "civic solidarity" would render Israel self-sufficient in its organ economy. However, the failure of the law led to the breakdown of civic solidarity in organ donation. As a result, initiatives such as the priority policy and non-directed living organ donations, developed out of a narrower conception of solidarity. Juxtaposing these initiatives sheds light on macro level processes for policy makers and suggests solidarity as a key bioethical concept to understand organ donation policies.
Contested Bioethics
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
Living and Deceased Organ Economies
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
Organ Donation, Brain Death, and the Limits of Liberal Bioethics
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Dec 21, 2017
Whereas bioethicists insist that organ donation and brain death are two separately issues, the hi... more Whereas bioethicists insist that organ donation and brain death are two separately issues, the history of brain death and organ donation suggets that the two are inexorably entangled. Inspite the efforts to erect an ethical firewall between the scientific facts of death and the ethics of donation, we argue that the Israel case introduces the conflation of the two.
Transplantation, Nov 1, 2012
Introduction: Iran located in Southern, Western part of Asia(Middle East), with the Gross Domesti... more Introduction: Iran located in Southern, Western part of Asia(Middle East), with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of 4,500USD and 75 million population, is among middle income countries. 24% are younger than 15 years and the median age is 26.7 years, which means a serious competition through National Entrance Examination for universities. Currently,60% of those who pass the entrance exam of universities in medical fields are female. Historically in Iran as many other parts of the world, women´s participation in practice of medicine has been significantly restricted. Access to medical education in Iran was achieved by women with effort to win the competition which continued through higher educational levels of specialties and subspecialties. According to the MOH an internal medicine specialist with board certificate can apply for entrance exam of nephrology fellowship. Afterward, if he or she pass the final national board exam, he/she gets subspecialty certificate which ensure academic employment opportunities. As the number of nephrologists all over the country is low yet, they are all involved in different aspects of nephrology; general nephrology, transplantation and dialysis. Methods: The data of all participants of nephrology fellowship and the results of its board exam in MOH from 1990-2011 was reviewed. Results: As the figures show ,whereas the absolute number of nephrologists increased from less than 25 in 1990 to 100 in 2000 and 200 in 2011, the 4% share of females increased to 26% and 37% respectively. Further investigation in female medical specialists´ perspective of their objectives of further qualification, intentions, and how they managed extra family commitment in addition to establishing a practice would be more informative for role modeling for future generations .
Current Psychology, Jan 11, 2023
Stigma is associated with harmful health outcomes, and it fuels social and health inequalities. I... more Stigma is associated with harmful health outcomes, and it fuels social and health inequalities. It can undermine social cohesion and encourage social exclusion of groups, which may contribute to secrecy about disease symptoms, avoidance of disease testing and vaccination, and further spread of a contagious illness. Stigmatization is a social process set to exclude those who are perceived to be a potential source of disease and may pose a threat to effective interpersonal and social relationships. In this qualitative study, we delved into the stigmatization experiences of twenty COVID-19 recovered patients during the COVID-19 first wave, using in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted during November 2020. Using thematic analysis, we found that the process of stigmatization was all-encompassing, from the stage of diagnosis throughout the duration of the disease and the recovery phases. On the basis of the data, we hypothesized that stigma is a significant public health concern, and effective and comprehensive interventions are needed to counteract the damaging and insidious effects during infectious disease pandemics such as COVID-19, and reduce infectious disease-related stigma. Interventions should address provision of emotional support frameworks for the victims of stigmatization and discrimination that accompany the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics. This study was conducted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty about the disease was high and fear of contamination fueled high levels of stigmatization against those who became ill with Covid-19.
Global organ economy
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The New Ethics of Organ Donation
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The rise in living sources of organ donations yield alternative conducts in the procurement of or... more The rise in living sources of organ donations yield alternative conducts in the procurement of organs. The shift from public formal to informal channels of organ supply lead to processes of ethical privatization – in which it is the patient herself, and her close social surrounding, that is searching for her kidney in a do-it-yourself fashion. Furthermore, the privatization of organ procurement lead to the proliferation of different matching agencies that mediate between recipient and potential donors. An expanding range of living donor types, from the "anonymous stranger" to the "emotionally related", appear, charging the key ethical concept of altruism with new meanings
American Journal of Transplantation, Apr 1, 2015
The Israeli transplantation law of 2008 stipulated that organ trading is a criminal offense, and ... more The Israeli transplantation law of 2008 stipulated that organ trading is a criminal offense, and banned the reimbursement of such transplants by insurance companies, thus decreasing dramatically transplant tourism from Israel. We evaluated the law's impact on the number and the socio-demographic features of 575 consecutive living donors, transplanted in the largest Israeli transplantation center, spanning 5 years prior to 5 years after the law's implementation. Living kidney donations increased from 3.5 AE 1.5 donations per month in the pre-law period to 6.1 AE 2.4 per month post-law (p < 0.001). This was mainly due to a rise in intra-familial donations from 2.1 AE 1.1 per month to 4.6 AE 2.1 per month (p < 0.001). In unrelated donors we found a significant change in their socio-demographic characteristics: mean age increased from 35.4 AE 7.4 to 39.9 AE 10.2 (p ¼ 0.001), an increase in the proportion of donors with college level or higher education (31.0% to 63.1%; p < 0.001) and donors with white collar occupations (33.3% to 48.3%, p ¼ 0.023). In conclusion, the Israeli legislation that prohibited transplant tourism and organ trading in accordance with Istanbul Declaration, was associated with an increase in local transplantation activity, mainly from related living kidney donors, and a change in the profile of unrelated donors into an older, higher educated, white collar population.
Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, Dec 1, 2016
Background: During the summer of 2013, after samples of poliomyelitis virus were found in sewage,... more Background: During the summer of 2013, after samples of poliomyelitis virus were found in sewage, Israel launched an intensive national oral polio vaccine (OPV) campaign. The clinical objective of the campaign was rather clear. With not a single case of infantile paralysis and with a population already highly protected with IPV (a dead version of the vaccine), the goal was to foster collective immunity so that risk populations could also be protected. This, however, entailed a rather unusual issue: how to persuade parents whose children already received an IPV to revaccinate their children, now with a live yet attenuated version of the virus that was excluded from the national vaccination program in 2004. The challenge therefore was a call for social solidarity-asking parents to vaccinate their children mainly for the sake of protecting unknown at risk populations and to take part in the larger global goals of the polio eradication program. This challenge stands at the core of our investigation. We see the OPV campaign of summer 2013 as a good case study of the tension between individualism and social solidarity in seeking the cooperation of the public. Methods: We draw on a qualitative study that included participant observation, document reviews and interviews with policy-makers, parents, journalists, public health experts and community leaders. These data were analyzed in order to unravel the ways in which self-interest, community and solidarity were conceived by different agents during the vaccination campaign. Results: The family as a metaphor for social solidarity was the main discursive item in the public campaign. Tensions, dissonances and inconsistencies were found between different registers and agencies as to what is at stake and what is required. Conclusions: We discuss the ethical and social implications of our findings in order to better understand how persuasion was used in the current case and for its future role in similar events, within and outside Israel, when global efforts to eradicate polio are ongoing.
Exercising Shortage
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The Making of Utopia and Dystopia in Organ Transplantations
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
18. Considering the Role of Public Health
Bioethik - Medizinethik, Sep 3, 2021
Bioethics and Biopolitics in Israel
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Dec 21, 2017
Social Science & Medicine, Nov 1, 2011
The supply of human organs for transplantation is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Using dat... more The supply of human organs for transplantation is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Using data from 30 countries for the years 1995e2007, this paper suggests that organ supply today is more dependent on direct donations than on the collective organ pool. This trend is analyzed by studying different modes of altruism: "generalized altruism" relates to the procurement of organs through a onefor-all collectivized system of donations whereas "restricted altruism" relates to one-to-one donations with organs considered personal gifts. The data suggest that transplants are becoming less and less social goods and more and more personal gifts. This trend is documented and discussed in light of the linkage that social scientists hypothesize between altruism and social solidarity. Whereas altruism is conceived as generating social solidarity, the rise in direct organ donations restricts the effect of altruism to one-toone interactions rather than one-for-all giving.
Beyond Altruism – The Moral Economy of Israelis Who Donated A Kidney to Strangers
The American Sociologist, Sep 2, 2022
Semi-Directed Living Donors in Israel: Socio-Demographic Profile, Religiosity, and Social Tolerance
American Journal of Transplantation
Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volu... more Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volunteer to donate their kidney to patients with whom they do not have personal acquaintance. We refer to the first group as Directed Living Donors (DLD) and the second as Semi-Directed Living Donors (SDLD). The incidence of SDLD in Israel is around 60%, the highest in the world. We introduce results of a survey among 749 living donors (349 SDLD and 400 DLD). Our data illustrate the socio-demographic profile of the two groups as well as their answers to a series of questions regarding spirituality and social tolerance. We find SDLD to be sectorial: they are mainly married middle-class religious men who reside in small communities. We found no significant difference however between SDLD and DLD in their social tolerance. Both groups ranked high and expressed tolerance towards different social groups. SDLD enables donors to express general preferences as to the socio-demographic features of their respected recipients. This stirs a heated debate on the ethics of SDLD. Our study discloses a comprehensive picture of the profile and attitudes of SDLD in Israel, which adds valuable data to the ongoing debate on the legitimacy of SDLD.
Social Science and Medicine, 2024
While the academic literature engages in parallel discussions about different ethical and controv... more While the academic literature engages in parallel discussions about different ethical and controversial aspects in the practices of organ donation and surrogacy, this current research seeks to bring them together and discuss them through the voices of the agents themselves, kidney donors to strangers and surrogates. Based on a focus group that convened both groups in a series of meetings, participants discussed the commonalities and differences between the two practices. The decision to help by becoming a surrogate or an organ donor and the autonomy in selecting the recipient surfaced as a central theme for both groups. Freedom of choice was conceived ambivalently: it is indispensable on the one hand and bewildering and confusing on the other. This paper follows the dilemmas, considerations, and limitations that accompany living organ donors and surrogates in selecting their recipients.
transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2021
American Journal of Transplantation , 2023
Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volu... more Living kidney donations in Israel come from two sources: family members, and individuals who volunteer to donate their kidney to patients with whom they do not have personal acquaintance. We refer to the first group as Directed Living Donors (DLD) and the second as Semi-Directed Living Donors (SDLD). The incidence of SDLD in Israel is around 60%, the highest in the world. We introduce results of a survey among 749 living donors (349 SDLD and 400 DLD). Our data illustrate the socio-demographic profile of the two groups as well as their answers to a series of questions regarding spirituality and social tolerance. We find SDLD to be sectorial: they are mainly married middle-class religious men who reside in small communities. We found no significant difference however between SDLD and DLD in their social tolerance. Both groups ranked high and expressed tolerance towards different social groups. SDLD enables donors to express general preferences as to the socio-demographic features of their respected recipients. This stirs a heated debate on the ethics of SDLD. Our study discloses a comprehensive picture of the profile and attitudes of SDLD in Israel, which adds valuable data to the ongoing debate on the legitimacy of SDLD.
Monash Bioethics Review, 2023
Figuring out what pushes individuals to become organ donors has become the holy grail of social s... more Figuring out what pushes individuals to become organ donors has become the holy grail of social scientists interested in transplantations. In this paper I concentrate on solidarity as a determinant of organ donation and examine it through the history of organ donation in Israel. By following the history of transplantation policies since 1968 and examining them in relation to different types of solidarities, this paper leads to a nuanced understanding of the ties between solidarity and health policy. Attempts to foster an all-encompassing consensus on the definition of brain death yielded the Transplantation and the Brain-Respiratory Death Laws of 2008. It was hoped that a wide "civic solidarity" would render Israel self-sufficient in its organ economy. However, the failure of the law led to the breakdown of civic solidarity in organ donation. As a result, initiatives such as the priority policy and non-directed living organ donations, developed out of a narrower conception of solidarity. Juxtaposing these initiatives sheds light on macro level processes for policy makers and suggests solidarity as a key bioethical concept to understand organ donation policies.
Contested Bioethics
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
Living and Deceased Organ Economies
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
Organ Donation, Brain Death, and the Limits of Liberal Bioethics
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Dec 21, 2017
Whereas bioethicists insist that organ donation and brain death are two separately issues, the hi... more Whereas bioethicists insist that organ donation and brain death are two separately issues, the history of brain death and organ donation suggets that the two are inexorably entangled. Inspite the efforts to erect an ethical firewall between the scientific facts of death and the ethics of donation, we argue that the Israel case introduces the conflation of the two.
Transplantation, Nov 1, 2012
Introduction: Iran located in Southern, Western part of Asia(Middle East), with the Gross Domesti... more Introduction: Iran located in Southern, Western part of Asia(Middle East), with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of 4,500USD and 75 million population, is among middle income countries. 24% are younger than 15 years and the median age is 26.7 years, which means a serious competition through National Entrance Examination for universities. Currently,60% of those who pass the entrance exam of universities in medical fields are female. Historically in Iran as many other parts of the world, women´s participation in practice of medicine has been significantly restricted. Access to medical education in Iran was achieved by women with effort to win the competition which continued through higher educational levels of specialties and subspecialties. According to the MOH an internal medicine specialist with board certificate can apply for entrance exam of nephrology fellowship. Afterward, if he or she pass the final national board exam, he/she gets subspecialty certificate which ensure academic employment opportunities. As the number of nephrologists all over the country is low yet, they are all involved in different aspects of nephrology; general nephrology, transplantation and dialysis. Methods: The data of all participants of nephrology fellowship and the results of its board exam in MOH from 1990-2011 was reviewed. Results: As the figures show ,whereas the absolute number of nephrologists increased from less than 25 in 1990 to 100 in 2000 and 200 in 2011, the 4% share of females increased to 26% and 37% respectively. Further investigation in female medical specialists´ perspective of their objectives of further qualification, intentions, and how they managed extra family commitment in addition to establishing a practice would be more informative for role modeling for future generations .
Current Psychology, Jan 11, 2023
Stigma is associated with harmful health outcomes, and it fuels social and health inequalities. I... more Stigma is associated with harmful health outcomes, and it fuels social and health inequalities. It can undermine social cohesion and encourage social exclusion of groups, which may contribute to secrecy about disease symptoms, avoidance of disease testing and vaccination, and further spread of a contagious illness. Stigmatization is a social process set to exclude those who are perceived to be a potential source of disease and may pose a threat to effective interpersonal and social relationships. In this qualitative study, we delved into the stigmatization experiences of twenty COVID-19 recovered patients during the COVID-19 first wave, using in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted during November 2020. Using thematic analysis, we found that the process of stigmatization was all-encompassing, from the stage of diagnosis throughout the duration of the disease and the recovery phases. On the basis of the data, we hypothesized that stigma is a significant public health concern, and effective and comprehensive interventions are needed to counteract the damaging and insidious effects during infectious disease pandemics such as COVID-19, and reduce infectious disease-related stigma. Interventions should address provision of emotional support frameworks for the victims of stigmatization and discrimination that accompany the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics. This study was conducted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty about the disease was high and fear of contamination fueled high levels of stigmatization against those who became ill with Covid-19.
Global organ economy
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The New Ethics of Organ Donation
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The rise in living sources of organ donations yield alternative conducts in the procurement of or... more The rise in living sources of organ donations yield alternative conducts in the procurement of organs. The shift from public formal to informal channels of organ supply lead to processes of ethical privatization – in which it is the patient herself, and her close social surrounding, that is searching for her kidney in a do-it-yourself fashion. Furthermore, the privatization of organ procurement lead to the proliferation of different matching agencies that mediate between recipient and potential donors. An expanding range of living donor types, from the "anonymous stranger" to the "emotionally related", appear, charging the key ethical concept of altruism with new meanings
American Journal of Transplantation, Apr 1, 2015
The Israeli transplantation law of 2008 stipulated that organ trading is a criminal offense, and ... more The Israeli transplantation law of 2008 stipulated that organ trading is a criminal offense, and banned the reimbursement of such transplants by insurance companies, thus decreasing dramatically transplant tourism from Israel. We evaluated the law's impact on the number and the socio-demographic features of 575 consecutive living donors, transplanted in the largest Israeli transplantation center, spanning 5 years prior to 5 years after the law's implementation. Living kidney donations increased from 3.5 AE 1.5 donations per month in the pre-law period to 6.1 AE 2.4 per month post-law (p < 0.001). This was mainly due to a rise in intra-familial donations from 2.1 AE 1.1 per month to 4.6 AE 2.1 per month (p < 0.001). In unrelated donors we found a significant change in their socio-demographic characteristics: mean age increased from 35.4 AE 7.4 to 39.9 AE 10.2 (p ¼ 0.001), an increase in the proportion of donors with college level or higher education (31.0% to 63.1%; p < 0.001) and donors with white collar occupations (33.3% to 48.3%, p ¼ 0.023). In conclusion, the Israeli legislation that prohibited transplant tourism and organ trading in accordance with Istanbul Declaration, was associated with an increase in local transplantation activity, mainly from related living kidney donors, and a change in the profile of unrelated donors into an older, higher educated, white collar population.
Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, Dec 1, 2016
Background: During the summer of 2013, after samples of poliomyelitis virus were found in sewage,... more Background: During the summer of 2013, after samples of poliomyelitis virus were found in sewage, Israel launched an intensive national oral polio vaccine (OPV) campaign. The clinical objective of the campaign was rather clear. With not a single case of infantile paralysis and with a population already highly protected with IPV (a dead version of the vaccine), the goal was to foster collective immunity so that risk populations could also be protected. This, however, entailed a rather unusual issue: how to persuade parents whose children already received an IPV to revaccinate their children, now with a live yet attenuated version of the virus that was excluded from the national vaccination program in 2004. The challenge therefore was a call for social solidarity-asking parents to vaccinate their children mainly for the sake of protecting unknown at risk populations and to take part in the larger global goals of the polio eradication program. This challenge stands at the core of our investigation. We see the OPV campaign of summer 2013 as a good case study of the tension between individualism and social solidarity in seeking the cooperation of the public. Methods: We draw on a qualitative study that included participant observation, document reviews and interviews with policy-makers, parents, journalists, public health experts and community leaders. These data were analyzed in order to unravel the ways in which self-interest, community and solidarity were conceived by different agents during the vaccination campaign. Results: The family as a metaphor for social solidarity was the main discursive item in the public campaign. Tensions, dissonances and inconsistencies were found between different registers and agencies as to what is at stake and what is required. Conclusions: We discuss the ethical and social implications of our findings in order to better understand how persuasion was used in the current case and for its future role in similar events, within and outside Israel, when global efforts to eradicate polio are ongoing.
Exercising Shortage
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
The Making of Utopia and Dystopia in Organ Transplantations
Routledge eBooks, Jul 12, 2022
18. Considering the Role of Public Health
Bioethik - Medizinethik, Sep 3, 2021
Bioethics and Biopolitics in Israel
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Dec 21, 2017
Social Science & Medicine, Nov 1, 2011
The supply of human organs for transplantation is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Using dat... more The supply of human organs for transplantation is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Using data from 30 countries for the years 1995e2007, this paper suggests that organ supply today is more dependent on direct donations than on the collective organ pool. This trend is analyzed by studying different modes of altruism: "generalized altruism" relates to the procurement of organs through a onefor-all collectivized system of donations whereas "restricted altruism" relates to one-to-one donations with organs considered personal gifts. The data suggest that transplants are becoming less and less social goods and more and more personal gifts. This trend is documented and discussed in light of the linkage that social scientists hypothesize between altruism and social solidarity. Whereas altruism is conceived as generating social solidarity, the rise in direct organ donations restricts the effect of altruism to one-toone interactions rather than one-for-all giving.
Beyond Altruism – The Moral Economy of Israelis Who Donated A Kidney to Strangers
The American Sociologist, Sep 2, 2022
Biopolitics and Bioethics in Israel: Socio-Legal, Political and Empirical Analysis
Cambridge University Press, 2018
This collection of research papers addresses the blurring of boundaries between bioethics and bio... more This collection of research papers addresses the blurring of boundaries between bioethics and biopolitics, Set in different ethnographic fields and different scholarly disciplines, the authors present the many faces of bioethics as biopolitcal projects: from wrongful life issues to force-feeding and end of life decisions. The book also addresses question of exceptionalism and universalism of bioethical culture by focusing on examples drawn from Israeli biomedical culture.