Cyborg Heart

The Affective Apparatus of Bodily Production of ICD Patients

Abstract

We argue that a cyborg approach both emphasizes the complexity in treating patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) attached to home monitoring devices, and makes it possible to decipher modern perspectives in the notion of ‘Patient 2.0’ and other representations of patients. We attempt to open up the notion of Patient 2.0 exemplified by ICD patients by drawing on the cyborg idea as developed by Donna Haraway as well as her understanding of science and the body as an apparatus of bodily production. We include the feminists Rosi Braidotti, Anne Balsamo, Geoff Bowker, and Leigh Star in discussing the cyborg, its infrastructures and affective potentials. We analyse modern imaginaries of remote monitoring as they are portrayed on the websites of the two largest manufacturers of ICD technologies, and based on an analysis of the apparatus of bodily production involved when patients visit a hospital to have their illness monitored we propose the analytical device cyborg heart to capture an affective apparatus of bodily production in the clinic and the idea of an enlarged sense of community as opposed to modern imaginaries of patient empowerment. Finally we discuss how the device cyborg heart differs from the notion logic of care.