While the law is not entirely consistent on the question of people's property rights in their tissues (2), a sentinel case addressing this issue was Moore v. Regents of the University of California (3). John Moore had his spleen removed as part of his treatment for hairy cell leukemia. Several years later he learned that his physician at UCLA had developed a financially lucrative cell line from this tissue. In 1990, the California Supreme Court decided that Moore did not have a property interest in his cells, worrying that giving patients property rights would “hinder research by restricting access to the necessary raw materials” and might “destroy the economic incentive to conduct important medical research.”
