Judge Nixes Organ Donor Body Parts Suit

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Judge

Nixes Organ Donor Body Parts Suit

By Associated Press

May 24,

2007, 6:20 PM EDT

SEATTLE -- A judge has dismissed a

lawsuit over the use of organ donor body parts for research and purposes other

than transplantation, and officials say they plan to revise the state's consent

procedure as a result.

King County Superior Court Judge Joan E. DuBuque

rejected a case brought by and her husband, , against the

county medical examiner's office after they learned that organs from her son,

, 21, were sent to a research company without the family's

knowledge.

died of a heart attack on May

21, 2003,

less than two months after marking the organ donor consent form while renewing

his driver's license. Within hours his mother was told

that her son's organs were unsuitable for live transplant.

She said it was only after a KIRO Television investigation into the medical

examiner's office's dealings in body parts in 2005 that she discovered his

brain, liver and spleen had been sent to the Stanley Medical Research Institute

in Baltimore, where his brain was used as a " normal control " in a

study on schizophrenia.

" Our son's organs were taken without his permission and without our

permission and sent to a medical research institute back in land who we had never heard of, " she

told KIRO-TV for a broadcast Wednesday.

The es' lawyer, L. Bulzomi

of Tacoma, told the station never expressed

any interest in donating his body for medical research.

" He expressed a very firm conviction that he wanted it to be used for

transplantation, to help living persons, " Bulzomi

said. " He had no contemplation of his donation

being used to advance the study of mental illness. "

The ruling means that the choice offered by the state Licensing Department,

which signs up the vast majority of Washington's organ donors, is now between

allowing the use of body parts for research as well as for transplants and

refusing to donate organs for either purpose, spokesman Bradley A. Benfield said.

" All of us here at DOL were shocked to discover this ruling and how it effects potential organ donors, " Benfield

said.

At LifeCenter Northwest, which keeps the state's

organ donor registry list, chief executive L. said the ruling could

discourage potential donors.

Within a few months, LifeCenter Northwest and the

state agency will institute a " kickback " letter campaign so that

anyone who enrolls as an organ donor will receive a follow-up letter listing

options such as transplant only, research only or both, officials said.

Current enrollees can choose from the same options by contacting the Living

Legacy Registry.

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