Insider trading : how mortuaries, medicine and money have built a global market in human cadaver parts

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Title:

Insider trading : how mortuaries, medicine and money have built a global market in human cadaver parts

Author:

Pfeffer, Naomi, 1946- author.

ISBN:

9780300118551

Personal Author:

Pfeffer, Naomi, 1946- author.

Physical Description:

1 volume (various pagings) ; 28 cm.

Contents:

Skin donors-on-the-hoof -- Pioneers of "eye banking" -- "Doctor, I see you!" : marketing corpse philanthropy -- Bioprospecting in mortuaries -- The doctrinal tyranny of skin -- Growth hormone soup -- The American market for a growth-promoting substance -- Civilian burns : prevention and treatment -- Extending shelf life after death -- Cadaver eyes, death denial and the British National Health Service -- Whose corpse is it? -- Establishing a collection of cadaver pituitary glands in British mortuaries -- Lionizing American eye banks -- A gland lost is a gland wasted -- Who's in the mortuary? -- Representational dilemmas in marketing eye pledges -- Banking british cadaver skin -- The burn-prone society -- Harvesting the dead -- Horse-trading in the mortuary -- Value for money in American mortuaries -- Financing high-value eye banks -- Regulation is necessary, but how? -- The blind eye act -- Creating American hybrid extractors of cadaver stuff -- Sharing pledges and cadaver stuff -- Disregarding risk in plain sight -- Ask, or don't ask : incoherence in collecting sites -- Climbing up the value chain -- Contagious corpses -- British prions -- Compassion and commerce -- A roadmap for the future -- Repairing the past -- Globalizing the gift -- Consolidation without cooperation -- From mortuary to shopping cart?

Subject Term:

Insider trading in securities -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Employers' liability -- United States.

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Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Aurora Downtown	Book	KF325.124 .A8 I57 2017	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

The cadaver industry in Britain and the United States, its processes and profits

Except for organ transplantation little is known about the variety of stuff extracted from corpses and repurposed for medicine. A single body might be disassembled to provide hundreds of products for the millions of medical treatments performed each year. Cadaver skin can be used in wound dressings, corneas used to restore sight. Parts may even be used for aesthetic enhancement, such as liquefied skin injections to smooth wrinkles.

This book is a history of the nameless corpses from which cadaver stuff is extracted and the entities involved in removing, processing, and distributing it. Pfeffer goes behind the mortuary door to reveal the technical, imaginative, and sometimes underhanded practices that have facilitated the global industry of transforming human fragments into branded convenience products. The dead have no need of cash, but money changes hands at every link of the supply chain. This book refocuses attention away from individual altruism and onto professional and corporate ethics.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

The author's goal in this book seems to be to denounce, and probably stop, a dark world conspiracy to poach human body parts for the benefit of the very few. Fortunately for patients around the world in need of organs or tissues, she fails to do this. The facts described do not paint any real conspiracy; instead, this extensively documented, carefully researched volume shows how donors, medicine, and unremarkable financial rewards have built a network that successfully covers the global needs for safe, transplantable tissues and organs. Pfeffer (University College London, UK) offers a thorough, interesting history of tissue procurement and distribution, from the pioneers of skin grafting to eye banking and pituitaries. There is also discussion of the regulatory issues surrounding the collection and distribution of human tissues and parts. The author closes with a roadmap for the future, which perhaps draws too much on a rather unrealistic dream of a trade-free world and an organ procurement system based on compassion. This is a must-read volume for those interested in the history of human tissue procurement and transplantation. But those looking for solidly argued conspiracy theories may be rather disappointed. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals. --Pablo Rodriguez del Pozo, Weill Cornell Medical College

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. ix
1 Skin Donors-on-the-Hoof	p. 1
2 Pioneers of 'Eye Banking'	p. 8
3 'Doctor, I see you!': Marketing Corpse Philanthropy	p. 16
4 Bioprospecting in Mortuaries	p. 21
5 The Doctrinal Tyranny of Skin	p. 27
6 Growth Hormone Soup	p. 34
7 The American Market for a Growth-promoting Substance	p. 41
8 Civilian Burns: Prevention and Treatment	p. 48
9 Extending Shelf Life After Death	p. 56
10 Cadaver Eyes, Death Denial and the National Health Service	p. 66
11 Whose Corpse Is It?	p. 73
12 Collecting British Cadaver Pituitary Glands	p. 78
13 Lionizing American Eye Banks	p. 86
14 A Gland Lost is a Gland Wasted	p. 92
15 Who's in the Mortuary?	p. 101
16 Representational Dilemmas in Marketing Eye Pledges	p. 107
17 Banking British Cadaver Skin	p. 119
18 The Burn-prone Society	p. 128
19 Harvesting the Dead	p. 139
20 Horse-trading in the Mortuary	p. 146
21 Value for Money in American Mortuaries	p. 154
22 Financing High-volume Eye Banks	p. 163
23 Regulation is Necessary, but How?	p. 171
24 The Blind Eye Act	p. 176
25 Creating American Hybrid Extractors of Cadaver Stuff	p. 183
26 Sharing Pledges and Cadaver Stuff	p. 190
27 Iatrogenesis: Disregarding Risk in Plain Sight	p. 199
28 Ask, or Don't Ask: Inconsistencies in Collecting Sites	p. 207
29 Climbing up the Value Chain	p. 215
30 Contagious Corpses	p. 225
31 British Prions	p. 235
32 Compassion and Commerce	p. 244
33 A Roadmap for the Future	p. 252
34 Repairing the Past	p. 259
35 Globalizing the Gift	p. 266
36 Consolidation Without Cooperation	p. 274
37 From Mortuary to Shopping Cart?	p. 282
Notes	p. 287
Bibliography	p. 322
Figure References	p. 346
Index	p. 348

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Table of Contents