Organ Transplants from Executed Prisoners: An Argument for the Creation of Death Sentence Organ Removal Statutes [Hardcover]

Louis J. Palmer Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999 | ISBN-10: 0786406739 | ISBN-13: 978-0786406739

This is a study of the utilitarian proposal for the creation of "death sentence organ removal statutes" that would make legal the harvesting of transplantable organs from the cadavers of executed capital murderers. The book outlines the legal history of the human corpse, examines the current market for transplantable organs and the development of transplanting techniques, presents legal justifications for the imposition of organ harvesting, and even anticipates the constitutional arguments that will be made by capital felons attempting to challenge removal of their organs. Current methods of execution are examined, along with the need to implement a new method of execution that will efficiently allow the harvesting of healthy organs. Also discussed are changes for prosecuting capital murderers, expediting executions, and minimizing ethnic, racial, gender, and economic discrimination as related to death sentences. An appendix provides a model death sentence organ removal statute.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Louis J. Palmer, Jr. is an attorney for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He is also the author of The Death Penalty: An American Citizen's Guide to Understanding Federal and State Laws (1998). He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786406739
• ISBN-13: 978-0786406739
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,379,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars FIRST BOOK ON ORGANS FROM THE EXECUTED?, August 6, 2010

By 

James L. Park "James Leonard Park" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organ Transplants from Executed Prisoners: An Argument for the Creation of Death Sentence Organ Removal Statutes (Hardcover)

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 law and 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
decided before they are executed.
At least at first, this seems to have more chance of acceptance
by all of the professionals involved--and by the general public.

More discussion of this idea will be found on the Internet
by searching for these exact words: "Organ Donation After Execution".

James Leonard Park, existential philosopher
and advocate of the right-to-die with careful safeguards.