Disposalscapes: ‘Estranged’ limbs after amputation

The disposal of limbs remains absent from our understandings of amputation, with ‘estranged limbs’ occupying a liminal position. Despite acceptance that the appropriate disposal of human tissue matters on moral, ethical and legal grounds, limbs and their disposal is estranged from these discourses, mirroring the experience of the limbs themselves. This paper then examines this absence around disposal, considering both the options which exist for the disposal of limbs after amputation, as well as why disposal itself remains side-lined from our broader understandings of the body. Practices for disposal that encompass both traditional clinical approaches, as well as more unusual patient choices will be discussed- through the discussion of these as potential ‘disposalscapes’. Utilising concepts from the work of Crawford (2012), Shildrick and Steinberg (2015) and Slatman and Widdershoven (2010), the potential importance of the disposal of limbs to patients and the role of disposalscapes within this considered.