A 17 year old student from New York named Jesse Shipley was buried two months ago, the victim of a tragic car accident. A funeral was held for him shortly after his death, which was rather uneventful when compared to the surprise that lay in wait for his friends and family. Recently, some of Jesse's classmates who were in a science club at the high school he attended were on a field trip at a local morgue. They probably knew they would be seeing some dead bodies and body parts; however, they did not expect to see their deceased friend there.
To be more precise, they saw part of their deceased friend. The students were shocked when they noticed a jar with a brain in it labeled Jesse Shipley. It turns out that medical examiners decided to save Jesse's brain, testes, and liver for further study as to why he died. Although Jesse's organs were returned to his parents and buried alongside of him, Shipley's parents are now suing the city of Staten Island due to the way their son's autopsy was handled.
I am incredibly shocked by this story. First of all, the parents or next of kin of any deceased person should be notified if medical examiners at a morgue decide to keep any part of that person for further research. It is wrong to not inform the living relatives of the person of any changes that might have been made to the body; an autopsy should be complete and not delayed in a way that might cause emotional distress to those close to the deceased. In Jesse's case, neither of his parents were informed about the removal of several of his organs. According to The College of American Pathologists, medical examiners have to be given consent to perform an autopsy on a dead person. As stated on the consent form, medical examiners are allowed to keep organs for further study; however, it is not mandatory for them to disclose any news of organ removals and retentions to the relatives of the deceased if the examiners choose to do so. Sometimes medical examiners may choose to not ask the family for consent, because someone in the family could be a reason for the death (such as in domestic homicide cases).
Although the medical examiners were doing their job by keeping the brain to further their investigation into Jesse's death, was it alright for them to not tell his parents about their retention of it?
I think it is okay for medical examiners to remove organs from a dead body to further an investigation of the cause of the death of that person, given that they receive consent. I just don't think it is alright for medical examiners to not inform the the relatives of a deceased person of any changes made to the body of that person, whether it is done to further an investigation or to contribute to medical research.
3 comments:
Wow, what are the chances of this happening? I completely agree with you, Michael, what the examiners did was outright unethical. What kind of "medical research" are they doing? I looked up the actual article and found out that Shipley died in 2005- nearly 5 years ago! I think any research or further investigation that they would have needed to do, would have been done quite a while ago. This must be extremely traumatizing for his friends and family who have to continue to dwell on Shipley's tragic death.
The examiners' decision to use Shipley's body parts without consent is completely wrong. I had no idea that medical examiners even had the option to choose whether or not to inform one's family before taking his/her organs. I definitely agree with Michael's opinion that although Shipley's organs could be used to further an autopsy or solely for medical research, examiners should have asked his parents first. This shows complete disrespect to his parents and loved ones. They basically treated Shipley's body and organs as if it was a science project instead of something that is meaningful to his parents and friends. The parents have every right to be upset and sue. They lived years believing that their son's body was all in tact and to JUST find this out is horrible.
With the risk of sounding repetitive, I agree that relatives of a deceased person should have the right to be informed if scientists want to use the deceased person's body for any kind of research. I am surprised that medical examiners are not already required to do this. I think there should be "disclosure requirements" (just like in political campaigns), which leads me to this question: What is the status quo on laws or rules regarding the dead? Are these state laws?
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