Surely we all agree that what Mastromarinos company did was wrong but what do you think of the larger question?
You might have heard not too long ago about a case involving a New Jersey company called Show more COLLAPSE You might have heard not too long ago about a case involving a New Jersey company called Biomedical Tissue Services which was accused of selling processed body parts from stolen cadavers. Bone and tissue from some of these bodies turned up in Joplin Missouri and were used in surgeries performed recently in both of our local hospitals. They have of course turned up in many other places also. The body parts processing industry is a largely unknown but very lucrative and usually legal industry that takes tissue bone tendons ligaments heart valves corneas and various other body parts processes them and turns them into products that can be used in various kinds of surgery. Some 20000 bodies are processed in this way in the U.S. each year. Typically a family will consent to the donation and the body is then taken by a non-profit body harvesting foundation. This foundation then passes the body on to various specialized companies for a token price and these companies then harvest the different body parts and process and sell them to medical supply companies which then sell them to hospitals. Every one makes a profit in these transactions except the donor and the donors family. It is estimated that a single donor body can generate the raw material for products that sell for up to a total of $220000.00. If vital organs are included the body might generate up to a $1000000.00 worth of products. The ethical dilemma I would like you to discuss here concerns the question of whether families of donors should be paid for body parts donations? Is it fair that others make a handsome profit from the sale of body parts but those who donate them dont? If you think people or their families should be paid when they donate do you feel the same way about vital organs like hearts lungs kidneys etc.? For your information and at risk of making this posting overly long here is some more information about what body parts can be donated and how they are used. Cadaver skin is used both for burn victims and in cosmetic surgery and skin from a single donor can be turned into product that can be sold for several tens of thousands of dollars. Tendons and ligaments are of course used in knee and joint surgery and they can cost patients thousands of dollars each. Corneas can fetch $2400.00 per pair. A heart valve costs around $7000.00. One catalogue lists 650 body parts products that can be purchased. Separate bones are harvested and bones are also fashioned into various sizes and shapes and ground down to powder form and used in bone paste screws wedges and putty. Products are typically freeze dried or frozen so that they can remain useable for up to five years after harvesting. U.S. law requires that body parts be harvested only from donors who have signed consent forms. There is also rigorous medical testing that is required including screening for HIV Hepatitus B and C and syphilis. Needless to say none of this testing was done on the cadavers stolen by Biomedical Tissue Services. This company is now out of business and its former owner Michael Mastromarino is in jail. Surely we all agree that what Mastromarinos company did was wrong but what do you think of the larger question? When companies make hundreds of thousands of dollars from donated body parts is it fair that the donors and their families get nothing? Show less
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