Hearts Exposed: transplants and the media in 1960s Britain

Abstract

Reviews the book, Hearts Exposed: Transplants and the Media in 1960s Britain by A. Nathoo (2009). In her cultural history study, Nathoo explores the relationship between medicine and the media regarding early heart transplantations, with a focus on examining the British context. Nathoo argues that the media played a key role in determining whether early heart transplants in Britain would be able to continue. In the end, heart transplantation in Britain was suspended for about a decade. In addition, Nathoo explores the opposition to the media, focusing on how the medical establishment and the government perceived the media's representation of heart transplantation. Nathoo's research claims that the media establishes a forum for framing the arguments. The analysis provides useful insights into the social and cultural issues surrounding the adoption of pioneering and controversial medical treatments which has relevance to current medical technologies in development, such as stem cell research and reproductive medicine. Nathoo's cultural history approach is an inspiration for studies that might be done to better understand cultural resistance to heart transplantation in such countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).