Dealing with the Fear of Mutilation in the Donation Discussion

Journal of Transplant Coordination, Vol. 9, Number 1, March 1999 We believe that fear of mutilation is at the base of most donation refusals received by experienced, competent procurement professionals working in collaboration with supportive hospital staff. As such the topic deserves more attention than it has received in the procurement research. In this article, we lay a theoretical foundation for empirical research into this formidable barrier to donation and offer practical suggestions for dealing with the fear of mutilation in the donation discussion. We have elucidated the fear of mutilation in earlier articles as an example of Mystical Thinking, a mode of thought first identified by Lucien Levy-Bruhl at the beginning of the century. Mystical Thinking is, according to Levy-Bruhl,5 culturally ancient, impervious to the rules of logical contradiction, oriented to subjective reality, lived and felt, and not amenable to educational efforts. In the donation decision Mystical Thinking is most often manifested as fear of mutilation and dismemberment or as the belief that we need our body parts in the next world. To shine a more contemporary but complementary light on the same phenomenon, it is also correct to view the fear of mutilation as an example of what Edward Wilson and other sociobiologists refer to as “animal learning.” This is learning that is embedded in our genetic past as primates; that resides in the lower, Dealing with the fear of mutilation in the donation discussion