The Montgomery Advertiser has the story this afternoon about officials deciding some of the remains found next to the oldest cemetery in the city were actually "medical waste" from the mid 1970's, while other bones were from yellow fever victims from 200 years ago. But that seems to raise more questions than it answers. When do human bodies become "waste"? Is that what amputated limbs are? Anybody know what they do with a leg or arm after it's been cut from its living owner?
Well gee, Tim. What did you want us to do with your leg? We already pulled it off. It just didn't seem quite right to cook it, we figured you probably didn't want to carry it around or want it stored in a pickle jar, and the dog didn't need a bone, so we buried it!
ReplyDelete*LMAO!*
On a somewhat more serious note...
The CDC defines "medical waste" as "waste sufficiently capable of causing infection during handling and disposal (e.g., blood-or saliva-soaked cotton rolls, extracted teeth, sharp items, surgically-removed hard- and soft-tissues) to merit special handling and disposal."
Most usually, such waste is incinerated. Frequently, hospitals hire firms to haul such waste away to external sites where it is then burned.
However, the patient CAN have their body part(s) given to them! Patient rights dictate that if the removal of tissue is indicated, the patient give informed consent about the disposal of such removed tissue. (Tissue includes body parts of any kind. Imagine the savings hospitals could enjoy if they gave those gall bladders, legs and excess fat to those from whom it was taken! Hey! Grandma! Want to take your liver home? *LMAO!*)
Sharps (needles, glass, scissors, scalpels, etc.) tweezers, are also frequently considered medical waste. However, sometimes, those items (hemostats or other reusable items) are autoclaved - exposed to heat & steam for a period of time to sterilize them - and reused.
If you think that's funny or not true... read THIS!
You’re marketing my leg!
Amputee, opportunist wrangle over custody of limb left in barbecue smoker
updated 3:50 p.m. CT, Tues., Oct. 2, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21088150/
MAIDEN, N.C. - A South Carolina man who stored his severed leg in a barbecue smoker that was later auctioned off is locked in a custody dispute with the North Carolina man who found it.
John Wood's leg was amputated near the knee after a 2004 airplane crash. He asked doctors to give it to him so he could be buried as a whole man when he died.