Everyone has heard the story of the man that goes bar hopping and meets up with a new "friend." The story continues that the man wakes up the next day in obvious pain and has surgical incisions where his kidney was removed when he was drugged. This type of horror story is becoming more and more real as theft of human organs becomes more publicized. The story of the man, whether fact or fiction, highlights an important point about the value of health human organs. 

 

Recently, a lawsuit was filed over a missing organ (brain) which was taken without permission for medical studies. According to the lawsuit, neither the deceased husband or the widow ever consented to organ donation and the brain is still missing. 

 

Organ trafficking was also recently exposed in a professional setting as well. A few years back several funeral homes were under investigation for harvesting body parts of the deceased that they were supposedly putting to rest. 

 

Organ trafficking is one of the lowest forms of theft. Besides the obvious mutilation of the body, it involves doing damage to live person when they don't have knowledge of it or from a deceased individual when the family is most upset and emotional. It is such an intentional and sick act that punitive damages should result. It remains to be seen if punitive damages will ever be awarded by the courts.