'Dr. Death' to sell body parts over the internet

Herodotus

Title speaks for itself.

I remember seeing the show when it came to Dublin last year and found it fascinating. Though to be fair, I don't recall the 'Cycle of Life' element :rolleyes:.

He's definitely on to something. Shame to see it all got to waste.

As taken from the Independent

Gunther von Hagens, the originator of the controversial Body Worlds anatomical exhibitions, has provoked a fresh storm of criticism in Germany after announcing plans for an online store selling plastinated human body parts.


Mr von Hagens, who enjoys the nickname "Doctor Death" because of his highly publicised shows, which display fleshless human corpses that have been injected with plastic resin, revealed his plans for internet expansion in a letter to his clients.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the letter said an online plastinated body parts shop would go online from 3 November, selling whole human bodies for €69,615 (£61,733) apiece.

Mr von Hagens has insisted however that his products will not be available to the general public, and will be sold only to scientists and medical experts. In addition to whole bodies, the shop will offer torsos at €56,644 each and human heads at €22,015. Plastinated animal parts will also be available.

His plans have provoked angry criticism from Germany's Roman Catholic Church, and further condemnation of the project is almost certain to follow. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch appealed to politicians to ban the online store, insisting that Mr von Hagens was "breaking a taboo".
Dismissing Mr von Hagen's repeated claims that his plastinated bodies are of scientific value, the archbishop said the idea showed lack of respect for the dead. "This is not about new discoveries but about picking at bones and creating a spectacle under the guise of medical enlightenment," he said.

Mr von Hagens, who likes to dress in black and is almost always seen in public wearing a wide-brimmed black hat, has been a source of controversy since he developed his plastination technique more than a decade ago.

The process involves removing body fluids and fat from human corpses and replacing them with plastic resin.

In 2002, Mr von Hagens went ahead with the first public autopsy held in Britain for 170 years despite concerns that he would be arrested. In 2004 he was accused of using the bodies of executed prisoners sold to him by China. He subsequently returned seven corpses which had injuries to the head because he could not prove that they had not been executed.
After opening a series of provocative Body Worlds exhibitions showing human bodies in various poses, Mr von Hagens went a stage further in May last year when he displayed two plastinated bodies having sex, in an exhibition entitled "Cycle of Life".

The show prompted a cross-party group of German MPs to demand that the exhibition be withdrawn. However virtually all attempts to stop his exhibitions have failed.

Mr von Hagens recently reopened his "Plastinarium", a factory in the east German state of Brandenburg which turns out plastinated corpses and employs 200 workers. Attempts to stop the plant going ahead were overruled because it provided jobs in a region suffering from high unemployment. Mr von Hagens has long since become a millionaire.

Terry

The article reads like a lame AH generated pun.

mikom

"Do ya want flies with that?"

AnonoBoy

Just in case anyone is tempted to do it - don't lick a dead body at the Body Worlds exhibition.

They don't taste like chicken.

Cheap Thrills!

:mad:

I'll have 'em!!!

Bombay Pantry is BUSY......yes that's right BUSY!!!

How about MY DINNER then, I'm hungry Dr. Death body parts actually sound half appetising at this point.

Anyway, I want Indian but if they keep screwin' around with me I could go a Dr. Mengel sangwitch..........so I could.............:cool:

RMD

Don't see the fuss as long as the person to be used willingly expressed that they wanted to be used, like people may wish to have their body used for scientific research.

Don't agree though with purchasing executed prisoners.

cherryghost

Offer 5 euro for the left arm if you're splitting.

starbelgrade

I'm going to buy a cock & slap Von Hagens over the head with it.

AnonoBoy

starbelgrade wrote: »

I'm going to buy a cock & slap Von Hagens over the head with it.

I can see the headline now: "Eunuch attacks Von Hagens with purchased body part over outrage at purchasing of body parts"

galwayrush

The Government could do with a hand or two...:rolleyes:

partyatmygaff

and will be sold only to scientists and medical experts.

That'd be a useful study aid for Med/Physio/Pharmacy/OT/Anatomy students to be fair (Providing the people had given permission to be used for scientific study).

mardybumbum

That'd be a useful study aid for Med/Physio/Pharmacy/OT/Anatomy students to be fair (Providing the people had given permission to be used for scientific study).

What sort of medical student is going to spend 50 grand on a heart? :eek:

partyatmygaff

mardybumbum wrote: »

What sort of medical student is going to spend 50 grand on a heart? :eek:

They don't buy cadavers either. The university doesn't either as a matter of fact. Hence the name scientific donation. But a plastinated specimen is much more long lasting than a cadaver.

Earthhorse

A+ donor.

Would buy liver again.

Piste

^The cadavers are donated to universities by members of the public.

I think selling plastinated body parts is a good idea, although there are laws in Ireland about not being allowed to hold onto human tissue for more than 3 years (I think that period is being extended soon), so I don't know if you could legally have it here. Universities already use dissected speicmens to teach anatomy, as these are plastinated, they'd probably be a lot clearer and last longer than specimens kept in formaldehyde.

Saermegil

A medical university abroad had them, and they were very useful as a learning tool. Don't know if they got them from this chap though.

Fair play to him though. I am donating my body to science, and I only wish I could be featured in his displays.

gsxr1

hes a weirdo

fonecrusher1

FFS "doctor death"...oooooooooh!!! spoooooooky!!!!!

Slightly dramatic. No big deal, he's selling them to schools of medicine & doctors for flip sake. For research?? :rolleyes: