Heart valves are said to fetch up to $7,000 each in the US, and skin $1,000 per square foot. A body could be worth about $150,000, according to Art Caplan, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Parts from a single body could fetch up to $150,000
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Schiavo right-to-die case captured the attention of the world
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I had always thought that much of the real drive behind organ-donation programs at death was the profit in the body parts. Of course, it sounds so reasonable: give her heart to someone who can still use it when it is no longer of any use to you. I would not sign an organ donation card because of the possibility of abuse by both law enforcement and the medical profession.
Anytime there's a bioethicist involved, watch out.
Reading that thread I see that nearly everyone can only comprehend the issue in economic terms. How much it will cost, and who pays. And nothing else. I guess that's where our society is at now. Very discouraging.