The most recent episode of the Taboo Trades Podcast, on Imminent Death Donation, was so successful that it reminded me of all the prior episodes dedicated to organ donation. So over the next couple of weeks I’ll be highlighting some of those, explaining why each one contains an important and meaningful message in case you missed them.
First up is the most listened-to episode of the podcast, which was even highlighted on the public radio program, With Good Reason. It features the Israeli sociologist, Hagai Boas, a four-time organ transplant recipient and the author of The Political Economy of Organ Transplantation, published by Routledge. Professor Hagai Boas is the Director of the Science, Technology, and Society Cluster at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
This episode has been a favorite primarily because of the moving detail with which Hagai discusses his third transplanted kidney, which he purchased on the black market. As he says in the podcast it was either buy on the black market or die:
It was very difficult then and it is still now. And I knew that I'm doing something which is wrong. I'm still thinking that it is wrong. There is no way that I want to rationalize that in any way. It was awful, it was abusive in a way. It was difficult, and I had no choice but to do it. And I'm not covering or laundering it in any way. I bought an organ. This is the invisible scar, let's say, that’s been accompanying me since then.
Listen to the whole thing here or in the embedded player below (or apple, Spotify, etc).
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