Enveloped Lives: Caring and Relating in Lithuanian Health Care

Rima Praspaliauskiene uses the envelope to explore complex doctor-patient interactions that go beyond notions of the gift or the bribe. Handing envelopes containing money or gifts to doctors in public health care is often seen as a remnant of socialism that continues as an integral part of the Lithuanian health care system. Praspaliauskiene reshapes our definition of corruption and encourages seeing these practices as emerging forms of care that impede the neoliberal health care reforms effected in the post-Soviet era. Enveloped Lives extends the analytical categories of gift, care, money, and transparency, shifting attention away from material transactions by prioritizing relations and practices that transcend economic rationality. At a time when healthcare reforms and the costs of care are being debated widely, this book is a contribution to the larger debates about the ethics and futures of healthcare around the world.