%0 Journal Article
%T Wokół problematyki śmierci mózgowej w antropologii medycznej
%A Jabłecka, Bogumiła
%J Prace Etnograficzne
%V 2015
%R 10.4467/22999558.PE.15.020.5197
%N Tom 43, Numer 4
%P 307-316
%K śmierć mózgowa, transplantacja, antropologia medyczna
%@ 0083-4327
%D 2016
%U https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/prace-etnograficzne/artykul/wokol-problematyki-smierci-mozgowej-w-antropologii-medycznej
%X 
	Around the Issue of Brain Death in Medical Anthropology

	The issue of defining the exact moment designating the end of human life has always raised controversies. Thus, the phenomenon of brain death can hardly be considered an exception. Although the concept belongs to the field of biomedicine, its acceptance is determined by a broader sociocultural context. I will strive to illustrate this by referring to examples taken from literature and the media, while focusing especially on Poland.
	Medical anthropology looks at particular biomedical phenomena and strives to understand them by exploring the society and culture they are embedded in. By approaching brain death in such a manner, we receive an interesting outlook on values, beliefs and relationships intertwined within the social nexus and concerning the meaning of life and death, personhood, relationship between biomedicine and society, as well as the status of biotechnology in the modern-day world.