Body Harvesting

The harvesting of body parts has been thrust into the forefront with the recent arrest of an alleged ring of "greedy ghouls".

This case led to New York Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn) asking the chairman of the House subcommittee on health to hold hearings on the involvement of funeral parlors in illegal organ transplants and body harvesting.

Towns said in his letter, "Respecting the sanctity of the dead and the health of the living should be a priority of ours and be investigated thoroughly."

Harvesting parts from bodies is seen by many as a medical ethics problem. One suggestion is that there should be laws which require that organ harvesting of a body should be carried out on all deceased persons regardless of whether that person offered to donate or the family approved.

Current law requires consent of the family before any body harvesting is undertaken.