Introduction: Recently, xenotransplantation research has increasingly involved braindead donors, a practice known as "decedent studies". This approach holds significant potential to bridge the gap between animal studies and first-in-human clinical trials, thereby reducing both human and animal suffering. However, the practical, ethical, and procedural implications of this work are complex and multifaceted. This paper delves into these pioneering efforts to establish a research model using braindead humans as proxies for future xenograft recipients. It examines the ethical considerations, procedural requirements, and organizational dilemmas in the day-to-day tasks when medical staffs transform a braindead human into a viable model for xenotransplantation. More specifically, we investigate how decedent studies challenges and reshapes our understanding of life, death, and dignity, while creating new opportunities for groundbreaking research
Methods: This anthropological study is based on semi-structured interviews with 19 US nurses, xenotransplant surgeons and researchers involved with decedent studies. Additionally, it incorporates media materials on decedent studies in the US. All data were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Scheper-Hughes and Lock, we employ the concepts of "the individual body," "the social body," and "the political body" to understand how xenotransplant professionals perceive and interact with decedents.
Results: The findings reveal that decedent bodies are highly valued for xenotransplantation experiments. Being human but not alive, decedent present unique opportunities for intense scientific investigation. However, they also occupy an ambiguous space for medical professionals, oscillating between categories such as person, patient, deceased, research object, and scientific hero. The results of these experiments generate enthusiasm not only among medical staff but also among the families of the decedents. Nurses, in particular, develop emotional attachments to both the decedent bodies and their families, striving to treat them with respect and dignity. This includes preparing and caring for the individual body, ensuring the success of medical experiments, and acknowledging the personhood of the decedents, sometimes even celebrating their birthdays.
Conclusion: Our study provides insights into the actual practices and dilemmas of decedent experiments and the reflections and emotions of medicals professionals caring for decedents. Decedent bodies are ambiguous. They necessitate new language, careful orchestration of clinical care, and both ethical, logistical and practical considerations. As xenotransplantation advances, we argue that scientific attention to public opinion, medical outcomes and bioethical principles must be accompanied by in-depth anthropological research on how medical professionals experience and interact with decedents in xenotransplantation experiments.