Parts from a single body could fetch up to $150,000

[Thom Little]

The market in body tissue in the US is believed to be worth more than $500 million (£288 million) a year.

While most people know about organ transplants, tissue is now much more widely used. Transplanted organs are governed by well-established laws. There is little evidence — in the developed world, at least — of trading in such organs. But the same does not necessarily apply to body parts that can be recovered from mortuaries, or from bodies donated for research.

Bones can be used in fracture repair, skin can aid wound healing, and heart valves can be used in other patients. Tendons and ligaments may be used to treat sports injuries, long bones to replace those damaged by cancer, shaped-bone products for spinal surgery, and ground bone in dental surgery. Collagen can be used to plump up lips. Bodies, or parts of bodies, can be used in crash tests, or in demonstrations of new techniques for surgeons.

Heart valves are said to fetch up to $7,000 each in the US, and skin $1,000 per square foot. A body could be worth about $150,000, according to Art Caplan, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1957697,00.html

[WillParkinson]

1. Yes, it's true...

We're worth more dead than alive.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Prolly why so many people fake their own deaths.... but then,

I'm sure they don't want to part with their parts when confronted with that option.

[LosinIt]

2. OK, so rather than donate my body to research....

how can my kids sell the residue? Hell, I'll be done with it? But my valves are no good, and some of the other parts may not be up to par, but I should still bring in probably 50K.

[SoCalDem]

6. Of course individuals are not allowed to "sell" parts,

but there are HUGE sums of money changing hands.. My friend donated her son's organs for transplantaion when he was killed in a car accident..His organs helped 6 people..heart kidneys, liver, corneas.. She had to borrow money to pay for a decent funeral for him, and is still paying it off, 3 years afterwards..

I don;t think people should be able to "sell" the body of a loved one, but I think the organ donation places that are raking in money, should pay for the funeral.. That;s the least they could do..

[Kolesar]

12. How about a tax credit , then?

[KansDem]

10. Me, too! Cut me up ant put me in the meat counter...

A body could be worth about $150,000

I'm 240 pounds. That means I'm worth $625 a pound. That's better than fillet mignon or lobster! Sell me at give the money to my kids for their college education, a down payment on a house, or a trip to Europe.

[rfkrfk]

3. check out EBAY for better pricing. n.t

[Vinca]

4. Hmmmmm . . . finally a solution to my economic woes

in Shrub's thriving economy. Now what can I live without. Kidney, anyone?

[FlaGranny]

7. I've signed an organ donor card

and all, but if they're going to sell my body parts from the mortuary, I want the money to go to my family.

Edit: On further thought, that's a LOT of money. If it is legal for a funeral home to do that, then they should not charge anyone, at all, for any funeral that costs up to at least $25,000 - INCLUDING the burial plot.

[Ganja Ninja]

8. So now you know the reason behind the tougher bankruptcy law.

:shrug:

[Ezlivin]

9. Seriously, these breast implants are JUST LIKE NEW

With prices this low, you'd be insane not to get them. They are from a little old lady who never jogged.

[WhiteTara]

11. now we know what happened to many

of those snatched for the flesh trade hree and elsewhere around the world.

[RedRocco]

13. thats the reason

that I will not put an organ donor endorsement on my ID. not having health insurance, I fear being euthanised and harvested if I'm ever in an accident