Thread: regardless, immigrants should not be treated like this

Regardless, illegal immigrants should not be treated like this. This might just be a story of someone trying to take advantage of immigrants, and hoping not to get caught. I posted this in general discussion section instead of the news, because I thought it needed to be talked about.

Family sues after son's organs allegedly removed without consent

http://www.courttv.com/news/2006/0425/o ... l#continue

NEW YORK — The family of a 19-year-old Bronx construction worker who was pronounced brain-dead after a fall has filed a $180 million suit against the New York Organ Donor Network for allegedly removing the man's heart and other organs without proper consent.

"Melesio Martinez may be a so-called illegal immigrant, but that doesn't mean they can take his organs without consent," said attorney Victor Serby, who filed the suit on behalf of the administrators of the deceased teen's estate.

Melesio Martinez, a Mexico native who lived in the Bronx and worked in construction with his brother, was rushed to the emergency room at New York's Bellevue Hospital on April 16, 2005, after falling two stories at a Brooklyn construction site, according to the suit.

Martinez was pronounced brain dead by Bellevue physicians shortly after his arrival.

What transpired over the next three days — while Martinez was kept on life support so his healthy organs could potentially prolong others' lives — is a point of contention between the New York Organ Donor Network (NYODN) and Martinez's family.

At or near the time of a patient's death, the hospital is required to provide the NYODN confidential information to determine if the patient is a potential donor.

Despite his lack of brain activity, Martinez had a healthy teenage body, presumably making him a prized donor.

Martinez's brother, Margarito, was approached first about donating his brother's organs. He refused. The act was against the family's cultural beliefs, according to Serby.

But there is a hierarchy to consent.

The guidelines of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act dictate that a spouse, adult child, or parent's consent supersedes a sibling's.

Because Melesio Martinez had no spouse or adult children, a call was placed to his mother, Enedina Cano Rodriguez, who lives in the small Mexican town of Cuatzoquitengo, population 8,411, where she speaks a Spanish dialect known as Mixteco.

Based on that call, a consent form was filled out, and NYODN moved forward with the removal of Martinez's organs.

On April 19, the teen was wheeled to an operating room, and his heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, intestines and other tissues were removed from his body and delivered to the NYODN, according to the complaint.

"The date and time of Melesio Martinez's death, as recorded on his death certificate, came after his organs and body parts were removed by NYODN," the suit says.

According to attorney Serby, the mother says she never gave consent, and only understood it to be a tragic phone call announcing the death of her teenage son. Serby says the call should have been recorded, but he has received no evidence that it was.

Serby says the consent form lists a mysterious "uncle" as the translator of the phone call, a man whom Margarito Martinez claims has no relation to the family.

"He was a co-worker at the construction site who came from the same town in Mexico, and I don't know if he told them he was an uncle or they just assumed he was an uncle," Serby told Courttv.com. "But in the actual consent form, which, by the way, is unsigned, they list him as the uncle, and that he allegedly made the telephone call."

Two names scribbled on the consent form, according to Serby, are listed as witnesses to the call.

"I don't know what they were listening to because the conversation would have been in [Mixteco]," Serby said.

A spokesman from the NYODN declined to comment on pending litigation.

Serby concedes that there is a dire need for organ donors and that the issue is an important public-policy concern.

"But, on the other hand," he said, "it has to be done lawfully through valid consent."

This is tragic......It disgusts me that anyone would think of doing something like that. New York seems to be a pretty shady place for things like this. I've read articles recently where they take bone and skin etc. at the funeral homes and sell them. Unfortunatly alot of the receipants have now contracted deadly diseases. I knew they did this in China with their prisoners. If they had the right blood type, bam your dead and their organs were sold. If memory serves me the deals were made in New York. Don't want to get sick there, that's for sure!

Regardless of a persons ethnic background. This should happen to no one. Peroid.

Agreed. We aren't animals.

I don't believe everything I read. I noted there is contention in who is saying what and why. The organization who took the organs have been doing this a long time and probably know how to go about it. Someone could be lying.

If it is true, it is horrendous.

It seems Court TV reported this - that makes me think it might be a little one-sided.

But this has happened before in NY - and not to illegal immigrants. I think this is just being used as a propaganda tool.

It is sad either way around.

Ah, yes...and the 'contention' could possibly serve up 180 million to the family. i

This story smells very bad, y'all.

MJ

I saw an article posted the other day, but it wasn't as informative as this one ... it left too many unanswered questions.

"The date and time of Melesio Martinez's death, as recorded on his death certificate, came after his organs and body parts were removed by NYODN," the suit says.

this is disturbing on many levels ... I thought a person had to be dead dead, not just brain dead, before any organs could be taken. I'm an organ donor and had no plans of any one taking something while I was still living.

Who's paying the emergency room medical bills

I don't see why anyone would not be an organ donor in the first place. They remove most of your organs during the autopsy anyways. It's a regular practice. If you donate, they may use some of the organs to benefit someone else. If not, they take the organs out and throw them away.

I bet if more people realized this, we might not be in such a great need of organs.