UC Considers Using Barcodes for Cadavers

[rainbow4321]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050204/D881UQSG0.html

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Shaken by scandals involving the black-market sale of body parts, University of California officials are considering inserting supermarket-style barcodes or radio frequency devices in cadavers to keep track of them.

The high-tech fix is one of a number of reforms UC is proposing to reassure people that bodies donated to science will be used as intended and treated with respect.

Officials are also considering putting barcodes or radio frequency devices in cadavers that could be read by someone walking past the body with a handheld device. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags already are used by cars passing through automated toll plazas. UC officials said that they are still working out the details but that any body parts that became separated from the corpse would probably be tagged, too.

Dr. Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said he has never heard of such devices being used to keep track of cadavers. He said a determined thief might be able to remove a barcode, and he warned that the new equipment has to be backed up by human oversight.

[Spinzonner]

1. Corpse Check on Aisle 9 ...

[Lizzie Borden]

8. Attention K-Mart Shoppers...

Corpse special on aisle 5! Sometimes the truth IS stranger than fiction.}(

[Spinzonner]

9. So, that would be Korpse-Mart ...

[Why Syzygy]

2. um . hmm

"black-market" sale of body parts .. now there's a new concept to my vision of 'reality'.

Is there not such a thing as 'door locks'? How do these body snatchers get into the morgue and steal body parts? And for what purpose?

The 'dead' cannot/will not object to being bar coded/RFID'd .. but is this the best solution these bozos can come up with?

I'm pretty damn sure a 'determined thief' can and will remove any bar codes, etc. WTF do they want with these body parts?

Am I so naive? Why do I not understand stealing 'body parts'?

[Career Prole]

3. "WTF do they want with these body parts?"

"Beats me!"

[purduejake]

4. I think they sell them for research and study...

it is pretty hard to get your hands on individual parts from what I understand.

[greymattermom]

5. parts

Are used to practice surgery. You'll be glad that you weren't the first knee replacment done by your orthopedist.b

[NNN0LHI]

6. A little too Soylent Greenish to me n/t

[TahitiNut]

7. They'll install those RFID tags early. Can't be too careful.

Like ... at birth? :eyes:

[paineinthearse]

10. Time to resurrect my old sub-cutanious RFID device post from other group.

Give me a few minutes. Watch the "general" forum........

[paineinthearse]

11. Link to sub-cutaneous RFID device

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3063004

[VegasWolf]

12. No, in vitro, in case of *gasp* an abortion! n/t

[Lauri16]

13. It's nice that they're doing 'something'

I'm donating my body to science, so i'm relieved that they're at least trying to stop this kind of thing. I did 'briefly' think about withdrawing, but the benefits to others far outweighed the UC scandal.