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In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

latimes.com

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Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#51

Post by greggman2 »

el_cujo wrote: post #18
hanniabu wrote: post #15

How come you can only be an organ donor or nothing at all? Why is it not possible for your family to sell your body? I'm positive that it would flood the market with bodies and drive the value of your body down, but would at least still cover funeral services. It would be nice if you could even select what you want to donate and sell, such as sell your skin and donate your organs.

I'm not saying I like this current system either, I but I could definitely see some downsides to letting people legally sell bodies for profit. It certainly seems chilling to me that people could have serious conversation about "what to do with grandma" if you have to consider not only how much it costs to take care of her, but also how much you could stand to be paid for her. It opens up a lot of unpleasant doors, b…

My ex-wife's family use to argue about who gets what when grandma dies in front of grandma all the time. In other words there is already money involved in grandma's death whether or not her body is also worth something.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#52

Post by big_chungus »

krapht wrote: post #6
big_chungus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, way to make people want to be organ donors. I'm willing to help someone who's got a bad kidney, but that? No way. There's a big difference in giving up some body parts to save someone's life once you don't need them and getting sent to the glue factory to feed someone's vanity.

I mean, for a lot people, I imagine there isn't a difference. I'm going to remain an organ donor. It is said that Diogenes, when asked how he wished to be buried, left instructions to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on his body. When asked if he minded this, he said, "Not at all, as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!" When asked how he could use the stick sinc…

Honestly, I'd be a lot more okay being tossed to wild animals than being ground up and turned into butt implants.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#53

Post by silencio »

the_pwner224 wrote: post #50
silencio wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short of saying no to heart valve/skin/bone donations, I find it unclear how this will play out in practice though. Like, OneLegacy is a nonprofit so if I select the nonprofit-only box, what happens? Or, how do you determine that a heart valve donation isn't life-saving? This is really frustrating to me, even as my dad is on a transplant waiting list. The Donate Life page does give me an idea though: I can specify di…

From the research I did as an Illinois resident: Your body is divided into organs (heart, kidneys, liver, etc.) and tissues (skin, cornea, tendons, etc.). Organs are the real life-saving donations and they must be transplanted fresh within a few hours of death. Tissues like skin and bones get ground up/processed and sold - occasionally for really great purposes like helping burn victims or people with torn ligaments/…

This is the CA donation limitation list: https://i.imgur.com/T6mWt3g.png

The valves are broken out separately from the heart for purposes of donation, and the story also discusses a case of valve harvesting causing a problem.

I'm struggling to figure out where to draw the line until I can update my advance healthcare directive... all these tissues, as you say, can still be valuable. I mostly just hate the lack of transparency in these relationships, and that these organizations seem to be hiding this tissue use behind the actual process of organ donations...

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#54

Post by linuxftw »

UnpossibleJim wrote: post #27
sysbin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cosmetic surgery isn't necessarily a bad thing because you associate it with the word vanity. I hope you realize that appearance can be just as important psychologically in a life as a person that's needing surgery for other reasons.

There's a difference between burn victim "vanity" and Kardashian vanity. One isn't a bad thing, and the cosmetic surgery to relieve the physical and emotional trauma associated with such is necessary. The latter, however, is a sideshow brought to us via Comcast and Instagram.

Pretty much this. I didn't feel it needed to be stated because obviously that's different.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#55

Post by snagglegaggle »

scarmig wrote: post #28

I don't mind my body being ground up and used for penis plumper. I do want my family to get a big cut of that if it's selling for a grand per teaspoon.

Federally there are laws against profiting off of organ trade, which is possibly why the company listed is registered as a nonprofit. You as an individual are operating for profit and would not qualify for an exemption.

It goes deeper, too, with bodily tissue not being recognized as property for some reason. This makes it hard to sue doctors and hospitals for misusing your medical waste, etc.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#56

Post by snagglegaggle »

scarmig wrote: post #37
generalpass wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What stops a medical provider right now from letting someone die because they stand to profit more than if care is given to keep the patient alive?

On top of fear of malpractice suits and general well intention of doctors and nurses, medical providers make a lot more money from the provision of services than from being corpse brokers.

Have you ever researched the outcome of malpractice suits? People almost never win nowadays, usually because doctors must testify against other doctors. It is impossible to hold them accountable and now there are usually caps on damages.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#57

Post by throwaway66920 »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #42

Call me naive but I was unaware that there were companies benefiting from harvesting my organs. I signed up to help people in need, not to help corporations. Especially corporations with a too-cozy relationship with the coroner's office. I'm revoking my organ donor status until this changes.

I wouldn’t overindex on this. I think this article is talking about biorepositories, which have a fair bit of work to do in storing organs in good condition and matching the donor data to clinical trials. More critical organs like hearts or kidneys are probably being sent to patients without much of a middleman

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#58

Post by scarejunba »

krapht wrote: post #6
big_chungus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, way to make people want to be organ donors. I'm willing to help someone who's got a bad kidney, but that? No way. There's a big difference in giving up some body parts to save someone's life once you don't need them and getting sent to the glue factory to feed someone's vanity.

I mean, for a lot people, I imagine there isn't a difference. I'm going to remain an organ donor. It is said that Diogenes, when asked how he wished to be buried, left instructions to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on his body. When asked if he minded this, he said, "Not at all, as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!" When asked how he could use the stick sinc…

Yeah, I don't care how it's used but I want my family to be the beneficiary, not some fat cat running an org that has government monopoly to gut me.

Re: In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended

#60

Post by waste_monk »

sushid wrote: post #44
amanaplanacanal wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I think I would choose to be ground up for fertilizer if I had that option.

There are burial options where they plant a tree (non fruit bearing) on top of your body if you really want to opt for something like that.

Why not a fruit bearing tree?

Is it a prion risk or other health concern? or just people being squeamish / worried about misuse e.g. "haha that apple you just ate was made out of my grandpa" type thing.

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