101Scout
06-14-2008, 11:41 AM
That's kinda spooky. If your son or daughter has body parts removed by the coroner, you do not have rights, as the parents, to retain that body part in the state of Ohio. Sounds almost like the govt owns 'you' as well.
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[Ohio court: Relatives have no right to body parts
Posted by Julie Carr Smyth/Associated press June 05, 2008 11:05AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Family members don't have a right to a relative's brain, heart and other body parts removed by a coroner for forensic testing, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a 6-1 decision, the high court said there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution, the state Constitution or common law that says organs must be returned to a family in such cases.
The ruling is a defeat for the parents of Christopher Albrecht, 30, who plunged his vehicle into a pond in 2001 and died. The Hamilton County coroner's office in Cincinnati removed Albrecht's brain during the autopsy and retained it for further examination to determine the cause of death.
His parents sued after reading the autopsy report, saying they were never notified that the brain was removed and argued it should have been returned to them for their son's burial. The coroner later determined that an epileptic seizure prompted Albrecht's accident and that he drowned.
The family's class-action lawsuit against coroners in Ohio drew international attention for its ramifications to coroners, crime investigators and followers of religions that espouse the importance of burying the whole body. An Ohio law passed in 2006 allowed coroners to dispose of autopsy specimens.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
[Ohio court: Relatives have no right to body parts
Posted by Julie Carr Smyth/Associated press June 05, 2008 11:05AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Family members don't have a right to a relative's brain, heart and other body parts removed by a coroner for forensic testing, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a 6-1 decision, the high court said there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution, the state Constitution or common law that says organs must be returned to a family in such cases.
The ruling is a defeat for the parents of Christopher Albrecht, 30, who plunged his vehicle into a pond in 2001 and died. The Hamilton County coroner's office in Cincinnati removed Albrecht's brain during the autopsy and retained it for further examination to determine the cause of death.
His parents sued after reading the autopsy report, saying they were never notified that the brain was removed and argued it should have been returned to them for their son's burial. The coroner later determined that an epileptic seizure prompted Albrecht's accident and that he drowned.
The family's class-action lawsuit against coroners in Ohio drew international attention for its ramifications to coroners, crime investigators and followers of religions that espouse the importance of burying the whole body. An Ohio law passed in 2006 allowed coroners to dispose of autopsy specimens.