Abstract
This ironically titled novel depicts the ambiguity and ambivalence of making and receiving gifts. One of the main characters is a transplant psychiatrist who assesses potential living kidney donors. He struggles to understand his apparently altruistic patient and acts out this struggle in boundary violations. His wife, a psychologist, faces similar difficulties with a phobic, traumatised client and also acts out. This closely observed novel provides a valuable insight into the thoughts and feelings that therapists can have whilst with their patients/clients and of the consequences of not reflecting on them in supervision. It also raises to consciousness the many ethical issues of altruistic organ donation.
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Smith, G.C. Benevolence . Bioethical Inquiry 11, 91–93 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9504-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9504-1