Body, culture and vulnerability in contemporary society: a case study of liver transplantation

In this article the reflections related to the body and human vulnerability from a case study of living donor liver transplantation are discussed. The receiving liver is the mother of the author of the work and the donor’s brother. This is part of a methodological approach that can be designated as family ethnography. Beyond a biomedical perspective of the process, it has interesting exploring the symbolic dimensions of bodies from the point of view of subjectivity. The patient is understood, not as someone passive but as someone who makes decisions about his life, about his body.