Summary of Kerry Howley’s ‘’Who Owns Your Body Parts’’
In his article ‘’Who Owns Your Body Parts’’, Kerry Howley, an editor of Reason Magazine, states that the high demand for donor tissue has led to a price increase in post-mortem human remains. He gave an example of Alistair Cooke, a cancer victim whose body parts were illegally extracted and sold. He argued that virtually everyone involved in marketing body tissues benefits except one, the donor. Kelly highlighted a scandal that happened in 2005 involving a man called Michael Mastromarino. Michael’s business thrived on the sale of illegally acquired body tissues. His business was described as unlawful, dangerous, and amateurish. A string of lawsuits led to his indictment and prosecution.
According to Kerry, laws, and guidelines meant to govern this particular business are not clear and, thus, prone to misuse, especially by body tissue companies. The thriving body tissue industry is fuelled by massive tissue transplants done annually by surgeons in our hospitals. The industry has biotech firms, the middlemen, and tissue banks where body organs are stored. Kerry highlights that the factors that tarnish the reputation of this industry are the unscrupulous practices by various owners and entities in the sector.
For instance, Mastromarino never sought consent from families whose bodies of their loved ones were harvested. The donor families were illegally robbed of their rights. The laws designed to guide the industry is what rips these families apart. Kerry argues that donors have been locked out of the market as it is unclear who is controlled by the regulations, whether it is the donor or the body tissue companies. Donor’s generosity is to blame for this illegal practice, according to Olsson. They end up losing massive benefits to other players disguised as good Samaritans in the industry.
Kerry highlights the restrictions subjected to body donors, while large multinationals like LifeCell thrive from the sale of body tissue organs. For instance, this company has Alloderm skin craft that’s become so successful it has put the company in the limelight. Surgeons use Alloderm for a large number of procedures, from breast surgery to hernia repair. However, scientific advancements in the field have blurred the line between a commodity and a tissue. Body tissue companies treat it as a commodity, therefore, freely bought and sold in the market. Kerry says that the law is designed in such a way that tissue companies, middlemen, and biotech firms receive benefits from the sale of body tissues while the donor families don’t.
According to Kerry, the legal value of a live or dead human body is zero. However, the demand for body tissues and organs in research and medical transplants automatically puts a value on a human body. This aspect of value is what motivates companies to trade in body tissues. Also, the generosity of most United States families to donate bodies of their loved ones fuels trade in body organs and tissues. Kerry Howley notes that donor recruitment agencies have devised ways of capturing the hearts and minds of potential donors in the country. These agencies use appealing language to encourage most families to donate bodies. However, they don’t tell the donating families that their tissues are traded in the market for fear of reprisals and a possible reduction in the number of donors. Therefore, Kerry points out that the use of appealing media language is a business strategy for body tissue companies.
A bill introduced by Senator Charles Schumer entitled Safe Tissue Act aimed at providing guidelines and regulations about payments and processing of tissues, failed in the house. The bill outlined the steps and measures taken to compensate donors. However, many people feared that it could lead to class discrimination. Therefore, for all the growing concerns in the market, no one seems upset that biotech companies sell tissues rather than donate. What remains is a chain of inconsistency where patients continue to pay for replacement parts and implants while sellers of body tissue organs become richer by the day. Mastromarino has been released on bail while LifeCell Company is set to gain its highest revenues ever.