What do a Newark, N.J.-based mortician, a California-based businessman, and a dentist and his seven mortician-cronies from the East Coast all have in common?
They have all ravaged funeral homes and medical facilities for body parts, engaging in multi-million dollar schemes to sell them on the body part black market. But this epidemic is nothing new, and its morbid presence can be seen in gruesome news stories from across the globe.
The World Health Organization has estimated that one-fifth of the 70,000 kidneys transplanted globally each year are from the black market.
Both hardened criminals and corrupt professionals partake in this scheme, greedy for the money the body parts fetch. According to various news sources, some tissue and limb samples could fetch up to $7,000 a piece. Based on this figure, one may assume they have a small fortune hidden in their bodies.
So how much is your body actually worth based on the sum of its chosen parts? In foreign countries like China and in South America, some people may value body parts more than the person’s life.
But missing body parts don’t only include great kidney capers and corpses with stolen parts. This can affect your life… by way of injuries that disable you and possibly deplete your income.
“Most of us have seen and heard of body part coverage,” says Mark Petersen, a partner of Petersen International Underwriters based in Valencia, Calif. Petersen International Underwriters provides customized disability insurance coverage for Lloyd’s of London.
