Selected and reviewed by James Leonard Park.
The red comments are his
evaluations and opinions.
1. Louis J. Palmer, Jr.
Organ Transplants from Executed Prisoners
(Jefferson,
NC: McFarland & Co., 1999) 156
pages
(ISBN: 0-7864-0673-9; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: KF3827.D66P35 1999)
Palmer is a lawyer and a former criminal defense
attorney.
This book makes a strong case for changing state laws
so that the useable organs of convicted felons
can be taken by the state after the execution has been completed
for the purpose of transplanting into living persons.
He discusses the history of ownership of dead
bodies,
proposals for establishing an open market for transplantable organs,
the right of the state to dispose of the bodies of executed murderers,
some cases of terrible murders committed,
and answers to Constitutional objections that might be raised.
He even present a model new law that might be adopted,
which would explicitly permit the harvesting of organs after execution.
However, Palmer
does not deal with public and political opposition that is likely to arise against
any such proposed change in procedure. Nevertheless, this is probably the
first book-length discussion of the proposal for using organs
from executed prisoners. Palmer does not consider voluntary
donation by prisoners who agree in advance to donate
their organs after execution. At least at first, this seems to
have more chance of acceptance by all of the professionals
involved—and by the general public.
Created
August 6, 2010; Revised 2-4-2011; 9-8-2013; 9-10-2016;
A
Facebook Page has been created: Prisoner
Organ Donation. This
group welcomes participation by anyone interested in organ
donation from prisoners: prisoners
who have Internet access, family members, friends, lawyers,
prison authorities, transplant surgeons, medical ethicists,
journalists, & students.