It's Harvest Time in Iowa

Iowa is primarily a farming state, so it's not unusual to talk about harvesting around this time of year. Today's story is a little different though. I haven't seen the story on the national news yet, and I don't know if the local news sites will keep the story online for long, so I'll give you my own summary.

Daniel Christy was riding his motorcycle and had a catastrophic collision with a car. His parents say that a car cut out in front of him, Daniel's bike flipped as he was skidding, throwing Daniel into the car. (This is known as highsiding in biker speak, and it's one of the worst accident scenarios a rider can experience.) The official report found that Daniel tried to pass a car that was slowing down for a left-hand turn and that he broadsided the car as it turned left.

Daniel was flown to the University of Iowa Hospital, where he was declared brain dead. Daniel is now destined to become an organ donor, but with a twist. His family and his fiancee have asked the hospital to harvest, ummm, his little soldiers. (Pardon the euphemism, but I'm trying to keep the sickos away.) The hospital refused, saying that such "donations" are designed to preserve existing life, not to create new life.

The family sued, and an Iowa judge has ruled in their favor, allowing them to potentially create future generations of accident-prone motorcycle riders. It seems that despite the fact that the fiancee has now lost the possibility of having kids with Danny-boy, she'll be content to grab the old turkey baster and do it on her own... okay, almost on her own.

I'm not too sure what I think about this. Part of me says "Sure, why not." Another part of me thinks it's just a little weird. His parents are all over it, ostensibly because it perpetuates Daniel's life in some crazy way. The kid will grow up without a dad, and face it, the mom is going to look a little nuts to any potential future mates. But hey, just because I think it's a little odd is no reason to prohibit someone from tossing her dead boyfriends leftovers into her oven, right?

What do you think?