# Organ harvesting? My B.S. meter is pinging.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 15, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436 "2013-05-15T18:29:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/1 "2013-05-15T18:29:59Z")
[Birmingham schoolgirl “murdered in bid to harvest her organs”](http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-schoolgirl-murdered-bid-harvest-3664848)
> [@](#):
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> They said they only discovered her organs had been taken when her body was flown home to the UK. Only her eyes remained, they said.
This _can’t_ be true. Can it? ☹
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/2 "2013-05-15T18:58:05Z")
Sounds far fetched. Why would they leave her eyes?!
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### Author:  [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/3 "2013-05-15T19:11:52Z")
Hm. I wouldn’t be in total disbelief if it turned out to be true, but I’m pretty skeptical. Those health workers in India would have to be pretty heartless and stupid to intentionally kill a kid for her organs, especially one who was visiting from the UK.
I’m wondering if what happened is that the health workers accidentally killed her, the facility realized what a horror-show it would be for them if it could be proven, panicked, and removed her organs to prevent doctors in the UK from being able to prove they were at fault.
Still pretty stupid, but the parents’ take on the situation is pretty implausible. The girl came in with parents - how did the health workers expect to be able to harvest her organs in secret? It would have to be done almost immediately after the girl died. Why not whisk her away as an emergency and do it in private rather than kill her right in front of her parents?
Edited to add: excellent point, **njtt**. I’m guessing it’s because they wanted to make it look as though her body was intact from the outside, and were hoping the parents wouldn’t have an autopsy done. Which I suppose could be them trying to cover up organ harvesting too, but I still think that scenario is implausible.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/4 "2013-05-15T19:22:42Z")
It sounds like a grieving family that isn’t medically sophisticated. Dehydration can kill and isn’t, in it’s late phase, easy to reverse.
All organs are removed and weighed at autopsy and placed in a plastic bag. After the examination is completed, the bag of organs is placed inside the abdominal cavity.
It may be that when the body was shipped back the organs weren’t put back into the body, but they would be useless as transplant material, even a short time after death. Organs have to be harvested from a body with a beating heart.
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### Author:  [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/5 "2013-05-15T19:38:58Z")
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> It sounds like a grieving family that isn’t medically sophisticated. Dehydration can kill and isn’t, in it’s late phase, easy to reverse.
>
> All organs are removed and weighed at autopsy and placed in a plastic bag. After the examination is completed, the bag of organs is placed inside the abdominal cavity.
> It may be that when the body was shipped back the organs weren’t put back into the body, but they would be useless as transplant material, even a short time after death. Organs have to be harvested from a body with a beating heart.
:smack: This is probably it. I should just never post when I’m ignorant on the subject.
Thank you for posting and probably solving it.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/6 "2013-05-16T12:47:27Z")
Well, we can add the Birmingham Mail to the list of moronically sensationalist media outlets.
“They claimed she was subjected to a “medieval” post-mortem examination during which all her major organs were removed in a bid to hide the truth of how she had been killed.”\*
I suppose that means all of the autopsies I’ve done have been “medieval”, since all major organs are removed as a matter of course (parts not needed for further studies are generally replaced in the body cavity).
That bit about examiners wanting to use a “hammer and chisel” to open the body also pings the B.S. meter. Don’t medical examiners in India have access to jackhammers and small explosives?
I do like the name “Coun Kooner” though.
\*The traditional way to harvest organs involves a pretty woman, a spiked drink and waking up afterwards in a tub of ice with one less kidney.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/7 "2013-05-16T16:00:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Well, we can add the Birmingham Mail to the list of moronically sensationalist media outlets.
>
> “They claimed she was subjected to a “medieval” post-mortem examination during which all her major organs were removed in a bid to hide the truth of how she had been killed.”\*
>
> I suppose that means all of the autopsies I’ve done have been “medieval”, since all major organs are removed as a matter of course (parts not needed for further studies are generally replaced in the body cavity).
>
> That bit about examiners wanting to use a “hammer and chisel” to open the body also pings the B.S. meter. Don’t medical examiners in India have access to jackhammers and small explosives?
>
> I do like the name “Coun Kooner” though.
>
> \*The traditional way to harvest organs involves a pretty woman, a spiked drink and waking up afterwards in a tub of ice with one less kidney.
I think that’s the movie I consulted on… Hey, I never got paid… 😃
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### Author:  [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/8 "2013-05-16T16:32:29Z")
If your BS meter is pinging, maybe you should read through the page you linked to.
> [@](#):
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> …
> If a patient dies under mysterious conditions, then a full post-mortem is done to determine the cause of death.
>
> In this case parents of Gurkiren took her to a local clinic in Khanna, Modgell Clinic, where she was given an injection, that could have been fatal, she was then shifted to a local hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
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> Her Post-Mortem was done in Punjab state run, Rajendra Hospital, Patiala.
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> The Doctors there say, that some of her organs were taken out for autopsy, and her parents were made aware of this regular procedure, to determine the cause of death.
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> Her Liver, kidney and intestine have already been sent to a Forensic science laboratory.
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> It was done as doctors were not satisfied with her post-mortem report.
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> A Police case has already been registered to find the cause of death.
>
> Here is an update on story on BBC
>
> ['Tests expected' on Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's missing organs - BBC News](http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-22547685)
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-harvesting-my-b-s-meter-is-pinging/658436/9 "2013-05-16T17:25:59Z")
I’m not a physician, but I don’t see poisoning someone to use their organs for a transplant. Wouldn’t there be a strong possibility of some of the poison IN the organ?