Abstract: Contemporary studies of the body are controversial on the issue of whether the body is one or multiple. Parkinson’s disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disease, however, provides a window of opportunity to investigate the “mindless bodies” by avoiding mind-body “speaking simultaneously”. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this essay reveals that the expectations of social roles such as family and work play a critical role in preoperative decision-making, as well as in postoperative adjustment in the deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment. In contrast, human events literally seething with emotion remain only to the extent of boosting their confidence for this treatment. Patients can only choose “which life to live, and which body?” where doctors reassemble a more patient-friendly social context for their agency.

Key Words: Deep Brain Stimulation; Negotiating; Mindless Bodies; Social Roles; Human Events Literally Seething with Emotion