UCLA In Hot Water Again Over Misuse of Body Parts
How did UCLA let it happen again? In 2004, in the landmark case of
Moore v. Regents of the University of California the medical research facility failed to obtain the informed consent of John Moore, before taking rare cells from his body for their own financial gain. Two weeks ago, Ernest Nelson was convicted for grand theft and seven other counts. He had taken cadavers donated to UCLA, carved them up, and sold those parts to biomedical research companies. Nelson received $1.5 million for his "service." Essentially, he was stealing what's free. I published an article entitled, "Stealing What's Free," wherein I discussed problems with the outlaw of compensation to body parts donors, while medical research facilities reap astronomical economic benefits from these "donations."
With UCLA still suffering effects of the bad publicity brought by the Moore case, how could they be so careless? They have had a cadaver donation program since 1950, and they received about 175 bodies every year. A paralegal for UCLA blames the program's lax supervision for this event, which led to the second suspension of the program in a decade.
For one of the country's leading medical research facilities, UCLA's sloppiness is atrocious. Without the generous and selfless gifts from people who donate their bodies to science, many of our medical advances would never have been possible. And because the dead cannot defend themselves or object to the ultimate use of their bodies, they deserve the utmost respect. And here we have one of the country's leading medical research facilities absolutely oblivious to the treatment of these anatomical gifts. Cases like this incense me!
How does UCLA's actions strike you? Please post your comments or contact me to discuss!
