Who Owns Your Body? A Patient's Perspective on Washington University v. Catalona

Abstract

In 1890 a man sold the rights to his body after death to the Royal Caroline Institute in Sweden for research purposes. Later, he tried to return the money and cancel the contract. In the subsequent lawsuit, the court held that he must turn his body over to the Institute and also ordered him to pay damages for diminishing the worth of his body by having two teeth removed.Today, it would be an anathema for a person's body to be used against his wishes and for a research subject not to be allowed to withdraw from a study. In fact, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act allows people to change their minds and withdraw a previous agreement to donate organs and tissue after their death and the federal research regulations allow people to withdraw from studies without penalty or loss of benefits.