DETROIT, June 8 (UPI) -- A high percentage of Michigan funeral directors would allow a late person's pacemaker to be reused by struggling individuals overseas, cardiologists say.
A team of cardiologists said they found in a study that 89 percent of Michigan funeral directors and 87 percent of people with pacemakers would have no problem donating the medical devices rather than have them buried or cremated, the Detroit Free Press said Monday.
Specific details regarding those surveyed were not reported.
"It's always a million-dollar question -- what to do with a pacemaker? It's an expensive piece of equipment, and if it can be reused, it's wonderful," said Gary Borg, a funeral director in Royal Oak, Mich.
To that end, the University of Michigan cardiologists have been working with the World Medical Relief in Detroit to collect the used pacemakers and deliver them to ailing individuals in the Philippines.
The groups conducted a test study in 2008 that provided 12 Filipinos with the pacemakers once they were sterilized, the Free Press said.
Dr. Kim Eagle, director of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, said his team will continue to work toward obtaining the used devices and sending them overseas via hospitals.
