Introduction: organ transplantation -- defining the boundaries of personhood, equity and community.

The contributors to this issue address a range of moral problems associated with organ transplantation. Although each paper takes on a different challenge, they share an underlying concern with the reconfiguration of personhood and community brought about by organ transplant therapies. Taken together, these six essays provide a robust critique of the medical, social, political and economic factors that drive the practice of human organ replacement. In the first essay, Marshall, Thomasma, and Daar examine marketing strategies that have been proposed for increasing the number of organs available for transplantation.... Sharon Systma explores the use of anencephalic infants as organ donors.... Lawrence Schneiderman and Nancy Jecker consider social justice issues associated with selection criteria for organ transplantation.... Rachel Majeske examines another dimension of transplantation selection criteria. Majeske calls attention to the values and norms that influence the selection process in both explicit and more subtle ways.... Erich Loewy explores the notion that organ transplantation is an appropriate use of communal medical resources.... The final essay by Tom Koch examines normative criteria to insure efficient and equitable allocation of organs to potential recipients.