Who Owns Your Body Parts?

Everyone's making money in the market for body tissue -- except the donors.

Kerry Howley from the March 2007 issue

(Page 11 of 11)

Beyond the visceral revulsion at Michael Mastromarino's ghoulish raids lies a bigger and more important story, one that offends on another level. The tissue trade in its current form violates basic ideas of fair play, free exchange, equity, and honesty. These are wrongs at which our sense of repugnance has not diminished.

 

The Mastromarino scandal continues to unfold. In October 2006, Brooklyn prosecutors issued yet another indictment, accusing Mastromarino of enterprise corruption. Two Philadelphia funeral homes were forced to close, and seven New York funeral directors pled guilty to related charges. A raft of post-transplant patients filed lawsuits, with others as far as Britain threatening to pile on.

 

Mastromarino, out on $1.5 million in bail, is looking at a possible 25 years in prison. Meanwhile, LifeCell is set to report its most profitable year ever.

 

Kerry Howley is an associate editor of Reason.