McFall v. Shimp

The court ruled that it is unacceptable to force another person to donate body parts, even in a situation of medical necessity.

[3] Judge Flaherty also stated that forcing a person to submit to an intrusion of his body in order to donate bone marrow "would defeat the sanctity of the individual and would impose a rule which would know no limits, and one could not imagine where the line would be drawn.

[4] Robert McFall died of a massive hemorrhage on August 10, 1978, about half a month after this court case was decided against him.

[1] David Shimp generally refused to talk with reporters, but he did say that his decision not to donate bone marrow was "common sense" in an interview with the Pittsburgh Press.

[1] In addition to being cited in analyses of tissue donation from a legal point of view, its ruling on the compelled use of the body of a non-consenting person to benefit another person has also been cited in legal analysis of the abortion debate and of women's rights during pregnancy.