Body Parts
If suited goons come get me, this map on my wall might be one of the
reasons. Anyone who's been there will recognize it.
Everybody is up in arms over this eggs thing.
Women are donating their eggs, and they get a cash compensation on account
of how big a pain in the ass it is to inject yourself with hormones repeatedly,
put up with swollen ovaries, get poked and prodded and ultrasounded, then
eventually get the eggs removed via long sharp needle. Compensation
ranges from $2000-5000. The press is screaming, "Some do it to help
out childless couples, but some do it just to stuff cash in their
purses!"
And I say SO??? Good heavens, surrogate
mothers get compensated for their troubles. People have been selling
their blood for decades. Why the hell can't I hawk my eggs if I want?
There are a finite number of them. Every woman is born with as many
as she will ever have in her entire lifetime. If I am stopping at
three children, why waste the eggs I have remaining? And if it's
that much trouble, why not get compensated? The media is acting like
this is some kind of scandal. I just don't see it.
Not long ago I got an email about kidney thefts,
primarily in Las Vegas. According to the email, what happens is that
some unsuspecting out-of-town visitor is flirted with, until the flirter
buys the person a drink. The victim loses consciousness, waking the
next morning in a tub full of ice water with a note to use the phone by
the tub to call 911, or else die. The 911 operator, being familiar
with these calls by now, dispatches an ambulance and then asks the victim
to feel around the back for wounds, which are two long slits. The
victim is then instructed to stay in the tub until the paramedics arrive.
The victim winds up in ICU, minus two kidneys, and some med students wind
up a bit less in debt on their college loans, thanks to the black market.
I dunno whether to buy any of it. I mean,
it certainly sounds possible, but I wouldn't go getting my panties in a
bunch just yet. And I do plan on doing the reunion
thing in LV this summer. It makes sense to keep your wits about you
and to not accept drinks from strangers, not because of your kidneys but
just on general principle. There's lots of other stuff that can happen
to you if you aren't careful. But paranoia is uncalled-for too.
Just be alert. We need more lerts.
Now, this thing about corneas, on the other hand,
that I understand. There's this coroner who has been exploiting
this law that says you have to make a reasonable effort to ask next of
kin for a dead person's corneas before removing them. There is no
real definition of reasonable effort, so he pretty much has just been taking
them without asking and selling them to an eye bank. Ok, not "selling"
but rather "donating with compensation" like the eggs above.
Now, I don't hold the body sacred. It's something
you own and should take care of, yes, but once you don't live there anymore,
I think what happens to it is irrelevant. However, other people have
other religious beliefs. Some folks believe you can't be resurrected
if you aren't buried whole. Imagine how they must feel now their
loved ones can't get eternal salvation in a body and everything just cuz
somebody went and stole the corneas. That's gotta be tough to handle.
Then again, some are just upset at the disrespect. They'd have gladly
authorized donation if only they'd been asked, but nobody asked, they just
took. I'd be pissed too.
link o' the day:
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