I am not addressing this post to anyone in particular but I am going to address the issue of a corpse/cadaver being used in this hoax. First off do any of you know the history of cadavers on science/medical research? The medical advancements made due to the use of cadavers is incredible. The things medical personnel have learned from the use of cadavers would not have been possible any other way. :ugeek:
I am very grateful to those cadavers who helped to teach my trauma surgeon how to do life saving operations when I almost died in 2005. I am sure if any of you have ever been in a life or death situation and had to go under for surgery to save your life you may feel a little different. 8-)
Medicine: Cadavers Monday, Mar. 29, 1937
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
Next I want to address the history of cadavers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver and how they have been used/obtained over the years and the cadavers that were chosen. Some of them were from mental hospitals, some from the prisons, some from grave robberies, some from unclaimed, unidentified, transient, and from families who may have decided to donate. There has been a huge amount of progress to a more respectable way of getting cadavers. :ugeek:
There is also the issue of what to do with the bodies/cadavers that are at the coroner's that have not been claimed, indentified or families who can not afford to pick up their loved one. I have come across many articles that deal with that issue. I found a very interesting article in which Craig Harvey explains the increase of bodies being at the coroner's and what the end result is when they get overloaded. Below is an excerpt.
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/12 ... e-morgue12
Unclaimed Bodies Crowd the L.A. County Morgue
The lack of refrigerated storage space is forcing staffers to temporarily move corpses into halls.
QuoteMay 12, 2006|Hector Becerra | By Hector Becerra Times Staff Writer
The Los Angeles County morgue is experiencing unprecedented overcrowding this year, prompting officials to stack bodies and to move them out of refrigerated crypts and into hallways for periods of time.
The morgue building is designed to hold 300 to 350 bodies, but at last count 415 bodies were being stored there, according to Craig Harvey, a spokesman for the coroner's office. At one point a few months ago, there were 447 bodies, the highest number of corpses that Harvey has seen in his 18 years with the agency.
"The coroner was never intended to be the mortuary of last resort," Harvey said. "But that's kind of what we've become.... Hallways become a parking lot where bodies are put until we get those we want out."
Population growth, illegal immigration, familial estrangement and poverty may be factors in the increase in the number of bodies, officials said.
"One of the things we've always tried to do is give families back a body," Harvey said. "But when we're looking for families, we find that today we're not always dealing with the Ozzie-and-Harriet close-knit families. Families are often estranged."
Some of the unidentified or unclaimed bodies are probably those of immigrants who came to this country but have no nearby loved ones. Others are homeless or are estranged from their families, officials said.
In some cases, family members cannot afford to pay even for cremation or refuse to pay for the funeral."We've had scenarios where a family is interested in the bank account and the estate, and that's it," Harvey said. "They don't care what happens to the body. They won't even take out of the estate to pay for the funeral expenses."
In the 1980s, it was unusual to have more than 250 bodies at the facility. In the 1990s, that number rose to about 300. In the past, coroner's officials could count on spikes in the number of stored bodies, which were then followed by quick declines, Harvey said.
"That's not happening anymore," Harvey said. "We thought this was just a temporary thing, but it's not going back down. It's staying static."
On Jan. 1, the coroner had 444 stored bodies. Harvey said he had expected that number to drop significantly after the holidays. But eight days later, the number declined by only 25. Harvey said the most obvious solution was to send bodies more quickly to the county crematorium, which is run by the County-USC Medical Center. Some bodies have been at the morgue for nine months, he said.
Then theres the issue of decomp and how the process is slowed down once the body is refrigerated. Yes this is standard for the coroner to do. They refrigerate the body. This method allows for the cadaver to be used for periods of 10 hours at a time for study/research. http://www.sccvote.org/SCC/docs/Public% ... ent%20(DEP)/attachments/APC-HSC%20Ch2%20Mass%20Fatality%20Considerations.pdf
QuoteBody decomposition slows once remains are placed in cold storage (between 37–42 degrees Fahrenheit). Bodies can be stored for up to 6 months in refrigerated storage, which may provide Medical Examiner/Coroner and funeral directors enough time to process all bodies in accordance with jurisdictional standards and traditional public expectations.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20586093
QuoteThe demand for laboratory-based teaching and training is increasing worldwide as medical training and education confront the pressures of shorter training time and rising costs. This article presents a cost-effective perfusion technique that extends the useful life of fresh tissue. Refrigerated cadavers are preserved in their natural state for up to 45 days with a daily working period of ten hours. Tissues maintain their color and natural consistency throughout this period. This new process for preservation of tissue opens the door to improved surgical training and to numerous research opportunities.
I do not see what the big issue is over a (method) of using an unclaimed/unidentified/donated body/cadaver(s) in this hoax. The alternative for one of these options of the bodies/cadavers is county cremation, and the cremation of a loved one who's family can not afford to get the body and has requested cremation. There is also a fee to get the ashes. Excerpt below. 8-)
The alternate for one of these unclaimed/unidentified/donated body/cadaver(s) is to help in a sting operation to bust bad people and the person/body gets to do a great service for humanity. I find that is more of a humane way for the bodies to go out than to be cremated because no one wants your remains. I have no clue what has happened to the bodies that were used after the fact but if you all believe Michael cares a great deal for humanity; than I am sure the person was treated with the upmost respect.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/21 ... nclaimed21
More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs
The weak economy is taking its toll, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County being cremated at taxpayers' expense.
QuoteJuly 21, 2009|
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones.
At the county coroner's office -- which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths -- 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.The county morgue, which is responsible for the indigent and others who go unclaimed, saw a 25% increase in cremations in the first half of this year over the same period a year ago, rising to 680 from 545.
The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner's office since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow.
"It's a pretty dramatic increase," said Lt. David Smith, a coroner's investigator. "The families just tell us flat-out they don't have the money to do a funeral."
Once the county cremates an unclaimed body -- typically about a month after death -- next of kin can pay the coroner $352 to receive the ashes. The fee for claiming ashes from the morgue is $466. Christopher Agosta's ashes are among those waiting.
Last month, the coroner called his sister, Tarnya Baker, 41, of Amesbury, Mass., to notify her that Agosta, 43, of West Hollywood, had shot himself in the head. Although Baker was her brother's next of kin, they had not spoken since he left Massachusetts for California 15 years ago. Only after he died did she learn that he was in debt. He shot himself as sheriff's officials attempted to evict him. He left a note giving his possessions to the local AIDS clinic.
Baker said she wants to claim his ashes, but she and her husband have two children and a struggling glass-glazing business. During the last two years, they have had to lay off their two employees. "I know that I can't afford to handle all this," Baker said. "I can't afford to fly out there and ask questions."
Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a body from the L.A. County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of $7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Assn.
