Local Transplants may Have Used Stolen Tissue
Atlantic City Press – November 21, 2005
At least one area hospital – Shore Memorial – may have obtained contaminated tissue and bones used for grafts that were illegally taken from New York funeral homes and shipped to a northern New Jersey lab.
At least one Atlantic County physician is advising patients who may have received such transplants that due to the potential for contaminated products, they should be tested for a number of diseases, including HIV, hepatitis B and C, human T-cell lymphotrophic virus and syphilis.
It is not certain whether all county physicians are making the effort to notify their patients, said Andrew J. D’Arcy, of the D’Arcy law firm, which is investigating several civil claims on the matter.
“We received a handful of calls within the last week regarding people being advised by their physicians that potentially contaminated bone and tissue were part of their surgeries,” he said Monday.
Atlantic County residents who received tissue or bone grafts since Oct. 2, 2003, may have received bone or tissue from the scam, D’Arcy said. Dr. Fernando Delasotta, an Atlantic County neurosurgeon who performs surgeries at Shore Memorial Hospital, contacted some of his patients about the matter,” D’Arcy said.
Delasotta could not be reached for comment, but a woman who answered the phone at his office was aware of the investigation.
On Oct. 13, 2005, there was a nationwide recall of human tissue products for transplantation that were distributed by Biomedical Tissue Services. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is investigating the Fort Lee company for allegedly obtaining bones and other tissues illegally trafficked from New York-area funeral homes.
The recall directly stems from tissue possibly taken from corpses without the knowledge of the families.
It is believed that the recalled tissue was distributed between October 2, 2003, and September 13, 2005.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has warned the public that Biomedical Tissue Services may have obtained tissue without receiving valid consent from the donors or screening the tissue for disease.
According to authorities, the enterprise was going on for a number of years. Authorities allege that body parts dissected from corpses at night in funeral homes were replaced with PVC piping to fill out the clothing so people attending open-casket viewings would not be able to discover that their loved ones’ body parts were removed, D’Arcy said.
Then the parts were delivered to Biomedical Tissue Services, frozen and shipped to other companies leading to an eventual final sale and transplant into unknowing patients, D’Arcy said.
Patrick D’Arcy, a partner with the D’Arcy law firm, is encouraging patients who received any transplant after Oct. 2, 2003, to follow up with their physicians and hospitals to confirm that they are not at risk.
“New Jersey law specifically recognizes a cause of action for the emotional distress related to the fear of contracting a disease such as HIV due to the negligent actions of another,” he said. “That is not to mention those cases where the disease becomes real, which is simply a horrendous possibility.”
To e-mail Madelaine Vitale at The Press: MVitale@pressofac.com
At least one area hospital – Shore Memorial – may have obtained contaminated tissue and bones used for grafts that were illegally taken from New York funeral homes and shipped to a northern New Jersey lab.
At least one Atlantic County physician is advising patients who may have received such transplants that due to the potential for contaminated products, they should be tested for a number of diseases, including HIV, hepatitis B and C, human T-cell lymphotrophic virus and syphilis.
It is not certain whether all county physicians are making the effort to notify their patients, said Andrew J. D’Arcy, of the D’Arcy law firm, which is investigating several civil claims on the matter.
“We received a handful of calls within the last week regarding people being advised by their physicians that potentially contaminated bone and tissue were part of their surgeries,” he said Monday.
Atlantic County residents who received tissue or bone grafts since Oct. 2, 2003, may have received bone or tissue from the scam, D’Arcy said. Dr. Fernando Delasotta, an Atlantic County neurosurgeon who performs surgeries at Shore Memorial Hospital, contacted some of his patients about the matter,” D’Arcy said.
Delasotta could not be reached for comment, but a woman who answered the phone at his office was aware of the investigation.
On Oct. 13, 2005, there was a nationwide recall of human tissue products for transplantation that were distributed by Biomedical Tissue Services. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is investigating the Fort Lee company for allegedly obtaining bones and other tissues illegally trafficked from New York-area funeral homes.
The recall directly stems from tissue possibly taken from corpses without the knowledge of the families.
It is believed that the recalled tissue was distributed between October 2, 2003, and September 13, 2005.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has warned the public that Biomedical Tissue Services may have obtained tissue without receiving valid consent from the donors or screening the tissue for disease.
According to authorities, the enterprise was going on for a number of years. Authorities allege that body parts dissected from corpses at night in funeral homes were replaced with PVC piping to fill out the clothing so people attending open-casket viewings would not be able to discover that their loved ones’ body parts were removed, D’Arcy said.
Then the parts were delivered to Biomedical Tissue Services, frozen and shipped to other companies leading to an eventual final sale and transplant into unknowing patients, D’Arcy said.
Patrick D’Arcy, a partner with the D’Arcy law firm, is encouraging patients who received any transplant after Oct. 2, 2003, to follow up with their physicians and hospitals to confirm that they are not at risk.
“New Jersey law specifically recognizes a cause of action for the emotional distress related to the fear of contracting a disease such as HIV due to the negligent actions of another,” he said. “That is not to mention those cases where the disease becomes real, which is simply a horrendous possibility.”
To e-mail Madelaine Vitale at The Press: MVitale@pressofac.com