Going by what’s in the article, which, admittedly, isn’t a lot, I think this is more a case of negligence. Anyone who dies in a prison is automatically autopsied. In order for a heart to be a viable transplant organ, the donor must be in a brain-dead state while still receiving life sustaining care. Even a few hours deceased is enough to make a heart non-viable (though apparently this is becoming less true!).
The much more likely answer, is either the autopsy surgeon or an autopsy tech threw the heart out in standard biohazard waste. Still disgusting, uncaring behavior, but until more evidence comes out, I’d say this isn’t malicious.
All that said, the Alabama Correctional Prison System is terribly corrupt, so it wouldn’t take a lot to change my mind.
The prisoner, Dotson, was “found dead” so who knows how many hours the body was lying there.
That pretty much precludes any use of the heart for transplant.
His relatives said they received the body in a decomposed state, but that could have been poor storage by the coroner before or after the autopsy, or the body might have been well hidden inside the prison so it was a long time before someone found it.
The article isn’t very clear on the condition of the body at each stage of handling.
What’s in the article is probably all the information that the reporter could get out of the prison authority, the state Department of Forensic Sciences, and the University.
Going by what’s in the article, which, admittedly, isn’t a lot, I think this is more a case of negligence. Anyone who dies in a prison is automatically autopsied. In order for a heart to be a viable transplant organ, the donor must be in a brain-dead state while still receiving life sustaining care. Even a few hours deceased is enough to make a heart non-viable (though apparently this is becoming less true!).
The much more likely answer, is either the autopsy surgeon or an autopsy tech threw the heart out in standard biohazard waste. Still disgusting, uncaring behavior, but until more evidence comes out, I’d say this isn’t malicious.
All that said, the Alabama Correctional Prison System is terribly corrupt, so it wouldn’t take a lot to change my mind.
The prisoner, Dotson, was “found dead” so who knows how many hours the body was lying there.
That pretty much precludes any use of the heart for transplant.
His relatives said they received the body in a decomposed state, but that could have been poor storage by the coroner before or after the autopsy, or the body might have been well hidden inside the prison so it was a long time before someone found it.
The article isn’t very clear on the condition of the body at each stage of handling.
What’s in the article is probably all the information that the reporter could get out of the prison authority, the state Department of Forensic Sciences, and the University.
What is this??? Logic on social media??? No, let’s assume the craziest worst case scenario first!!!
Maybe they thought he was a vampire and had to stab it with a pencil and then forgot to put it back. There, happy?
I can see it being negligence if an autopsy was performed.
I didn’t know hearts don’t stay viable long so I think your answer is more likely than mine.
But an organ harvesting operation of prisoners wouldn’t surprise me.