| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
25 Dec 2005 01:37:51 PM |
| Object: |
OT: A Macabre Theater of Greed {very sad} |
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,69916-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_7
A Macabre Theater of Greed
Associated Press
Authorities are investigating allegations that hundreds of bodies were
illegally carved up in funeral homes around New York City and sold for
parts without the permission of the families of the deceased.
Corpses — including that of famed British broadcaster Alistair Cooke —
were used to harvest human bone, skin and tendons which were then sold
for a profit, authorities allege.
Worse, health officials fear some of the stolen body parts were
diseased, and could infect patients who received them in skin grafts,
dental implants or other orthopedic procedures — a risk concealed by
paperwork doctored with forged signatures and false information.
"It's not just disrespectful to my father," said Vito Bruno, who has
sued one of the funeral homes after his father Michael's corpse was
desecrated. "It's an absolutely hideous crime against other people."
In the Cooke case, authorities confirmed this week that investigators
contacted the late broadcaster's family after finding paperwork
indicating his bones had been removed and sold by a Fort Lee, N.J.,
tissue bank, Biomedical Tissue Services, before he was cremated.
Cooke, best known as the host of Masterpiece Theatre, died from cancer
last year at 95 in Manhattan.
The family insists it never signed off on the procedure, and that
someone had falsified documents by changing his cause of death to
heart attack, and by lowering his age to 85. Harvesting bones from
cancer patients violates rules by the Food and Drug Administration.
A daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said the family was "shocked and
saddened" by the news.
"That people in need would have received his body parts, considering
his age and the fact he was ill when he died, is appalling to the
family, as is that his remains were violated," she said.
The probe — first reported by the New York Daily News in October — has
generated other gruesome stories. In one instance, the corpse of a
Queens grandmother that investigators exhumed last month had nearly
all the bones removed below the waist and replaced with PCV pipes.
A grand jury in Brooklyn has been hearing evidence against at least a
half dozen funeral homes in the borough and against Biomedical Tissue
Services that they illegally profited by conspiring to sell stolen
body parts. Authorities say indictments could be handed up early next
year.
The brewing scandal's reach extends far beyond the New York City area.
In the fall, the FDA ordered a recall of products produced by tissue
processors in New Jersey, Florida, Georgia and Texas, all customers of
Biomedical Tissue Services. Since the announcement, authorities in
Canada have determined that about 300 potentially tainted products
were imported there, and used for dental surgery on at least two
patients.
Health officials advised physicians that patients who were implanted
with the tissue should be tested for HIV, hepatitis and other
infectious diseases. The officials said they believed the health
hazards were minimal, and no infections have been reported since the
FDA warning.
But past cases have demonstrated dire risks.
In 2001, a Minnesota man died after a knee surgery from an infection
caused by a bacterium traced to cartilage from an infected donor. A
year later, health officials in Oregon announced that several patients
were infected with hepatitis C after receiving donated organs and
tissue from a single corpse.
Authorities say the Brooklyn case stems from a deal struck between a
dentist who started Biomedical Tissue Services, Michael Mastromarino,
42, of Fort Lee, and Joseph Nicelli, 49, an embalmer and funeral
parlor operator from Staten Island.
Investigators suspect Nicelli helped secure access to tissue and bones
from funeral directors for $500 to $1,000 a body. Mastromarino
allegedly would remove the body parts, then ship them to processors
paying thousands of dollars per order.
Attorneys for both Nicelli and Mastromarino did not respond to
numerous phone messages left by The Associated Press. A phone number
listed for Biomedical Tissue Services was disconnected.
The Brooklyn case demonstrates the potential pitfalls of allowing
funeral homes and tissue banks to do business without stricter
oversight, said Annie Cheney, author of the upcoming book, Body
Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains.
"The fact that these people were supposedly able to get away with this
for so long is shocking," she said.
© 2005 Associated Press
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: OT: A Macabre Theater of Greed {very sad} |
26 Dec 2005 12:51:13 AM |
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In article <e3ttq1h0pf07oemkg20tf43eadni5jhfl1@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,69916-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_7
A Macabre Theater of Greed
Associated Press
Authorities are investigating allegations that hundreds of bodies were
illegally carved up in funeral homes around New York City and sold for
parts without the permission of the families of the deceased.
Corpses — including that of famed British broadcaster Alistair Cooke —
were used to harvest human bone, skin and tendons which were then sold
for a profit, authorities allege.
Disgusting. Actually, when I kick off, they can have anything that still
works, but that's my choice, not that of some greedy grubby little
undertaker.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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