[The ethos of those involved in organ transplantation] includes a classically American frontier outlook: heroic, pioneering, adventurous, optimistic, and determined. But it also involves a bellicose, "death is the enemy" perspective; a rescue-oriented and often zealous determination to maintain life at any cost; and a relentless, hubris-ridden refusal to accept limits. It is disturbing to witness, over and over, the travail and distress to which this outlook can subject patients.
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