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An Ethnography of Everyday Caring for the Living, the Dying, and the Dead

Toward a Biomedical Technography

St. Francis Xavier University, emcgibbo{at}stfx.ca

Elizabeth Peter

University of Toronto

Technology has become synonymous with medical intervention, particularly in hospital settings in the Western world. Much money is spent on the invention, design, and implementation of biomedical technologies. Yet there is little analysis of how the implementation of these technologies unfolds in an everyday or every night context. This article illustrates how ethnographic practices may be used to study everyday caring for the living, the dying, and the dead for organ donation. The description of the social organization of technological practices includes the first author's stories and field reflections and the stories of participants in interviews and conversations in the field. Using ethnographic practice as a reference point, a biomedical technographic approach to illuminate the human—technology relationship in a world of techno-intervention is described. Emphasis is placed on the urgent need for development of a biomedical technography and for social change to address biomedical dominance.

Key Words: ethnography • ethics • end-of-life care • biomedical technology

Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 14, No. 7, 1134-1156 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1077800408322229


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