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In graphic detail, Cheney explains the lucrative world of trade in bodies and body parts. What are corpses used for? - surgical training, anatomical studies in med schools and seminars (which I have participated in), human tissue grafts (bone, cartilage, heart valves, corneas) placed intra-operatively, forensic studies, accident re-enactments - legitimate uses that make us all better off. The jist of Cheney's book is the procurement process - shot full with questionable methods and unsavory characters.
The sale of bodies is illegal in the United States but "expenses" incurred in handling the body can be re-imbursed. When handled creatively, a corpse can run up quite an expense - say, $10,000 or even much more.
Some individuals or families donate their own or a loved one's body to a medical school, which then may - legally - pass (expense) this body on to a body broker. A funeral director may offer poor families free cremation as an incentive in return for consent to use the body for research. Of course, once the body goes to the body broker, the parts may eventually be disposed of by cremation, but the funeral director will have no way of tracking this information for the family. The body parts are piecemealed out to the highest bidders - usually legitimate users who have no idea or interest in where the parts came from. Neglecting to offer specific consent leaves the family in the dark as to how the body of their loved one was put to use.
Cheney masterfully exposes the unscroupulous practices surrounding this thriving underground industry, but she doesn't dwell on the benefits to society. To get this information, you might consider reading "Stiff," by Mary Roach. Auto-crash bodies have helped fine-tune seat belts and airbags. Crash dummies are fine, but there's nothing like a body. Some are allowed to rot under varied environmental conditions - rain, sun, hot or cold, with or without clothing, etc., for forensic research. I already mentioned uses by the education and health industries above, and in most cases, the body is used as needed, without regard for niceties. Some are dropped from airplanes to see what height of drop is required to rip off clothing.
How does this treatment differ from a body being cremated when the body, already abandoned by life (or the soul, if you please) has only symbolic value left for the family? That obviously depends on the family.
Cheney doesn't review potential solutions, but it seems to me this deserves ethical study. A good end result might be legalizing the sale of bodies under carefully developed ethical regulations. Informed consent with a specified range of body uses acceptable to the family might be spelled out. Prices always come down when an industry is legitimized, which would be a side benefit.
Cheney spent three years researching for her captivating book. Perhaps her efforts will pave the road toward adequate regulation and supervision of this necessary industry...I hope so.
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