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PROFESSIONAL ISSUESIn wake of body parts scandal, physicians urged to know cadaver sourceLack of oversight leaves the human tissue industry vulnerable when those brokering body parts are caught operating illegally.By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. April 26, 2004. The willed body program at the University of California, Los Angeles, is under scrutiny for the second time in nearly a decade, following charges that the director of the program, Henry Reid, allegedly sold hundreds of cadavers and body parts for personal gain. Ironically, Reid was hired to clean up the program after a container of medical waste and human ashes broke open at sea in 1993, an event that provoked claims that the disposal of donors' remains had been handled improperly since the 1950s. The UCLA scandal has renewed calls for greater oversight of the human tissue industry, with advocates saying illegal trade in cadaveric material is emblematic of a larger issue. State and federal laws focus on donations for organ transplantation, leaving room for profiteers dealing with cadaveric material to violate the public trust, tainting legitimate users of human tissue in the process. Now, some experts say that physicians, who are often the ones using human body parts for research and training, need to play a more active role in monitoring the process. Todd Olson, PhD, director of anatomical donations at Albert Einstein Medical School of New York and a council member of the American Assn. of Clinical Anatomists, hopes the UCLA scandal will prompt a serious examination of ways to improve the system. "This is almost a Shakespearean story," he said. "You have at the beginning of the story genuine acts of giving, with people making one of the most precious and valuable donations anyone can make -- your body for the education of someone. On the other end, you have physicians truly interested in becoming better at what they do. Universally, people will say these are wonderful aspects of humanity. In between is where you have a cesspool of profiteering from body parts." [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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