| One of the most bizarre cases to hit the | | | | adults who disappear and whose bodies are never |
| headlines recently has been about body snatching. | | | | found. |
| Science fiction, this is not. Unbelievably horrible, it | | | | On October 26, 2005, Centers for Disease |
| is. | | | | Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug |
| Dealing with death, funerals, and cremation can be | | | | Administration (FDA) recommended that |
| emotionally gut-wrenching enough but what | | | | recipients of tissues recovered by Biomedical |
| happens when after you thought your loved one | | | | Tissue Services (BTS) be tested for evidence of |
| was laid to rest, the district attorney calls to | | | | infection with HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), |
| inform you otherwise. | | | | hepatitis C virus (HCV), and syphilis. On August 30, |
| This painful scenario is exactly what happened to | | | | 2006, CDC and FDA made the same |
| hundreds of New York, New Jersey, and | | | | recommendation for testing of recipients of |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania families who learned that | | | | tissues recovered by Donor Referral Services or |
| their dead loved ones were secretly carved up | | | | Raleigh, N.C. |
| and robbed of skin, teeth, and cadaver bones | | | | Patients who have implants must rely on the |
| before burial or cremation. | | | | hospital or doctor to be notified of where the |
| Biomedical Tissue Services, a now-defunct human | | | | implant came from. |
| tissue bank located in Fort Lee, New Jersey, | | | | Because of this ghoulish debacle, the Safe Tissue |
| collaborated with crematoriums and funeral homes | | | | Act was signed into law in April 2006. The FDA |
| in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York | | | | will have tighter restraints on tissue recovery |
| tri-state area, paying them princely sums of | | | | companies with inspections not less than once |
| money in order to blindly look the other way while | | | | every two years. The FDA will conduct periodic |
| illegally dissecting human skin and tissue, teeth, and | | | | audits ensuring that tissue products are obtained |
| cadaver bones. Funeral Homes like Louis Garzone | | | | legally; that donor eligibility and medical history is |
| Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Daniel George & Son, | | | | based on accurate information; and that |
| Brooklyn, English Brothers Funeral Home, Brooklyn, | | | | companies are employing good tissue removal and |
| New York Mortuary Service Inc., Thomas E. | | | | storage practices. The FDA is also advising on a |
| Burger Funeral Home in Hilton, New York, Profetta | | | | model consent form for acquiring tissue. |
| Funeral Chapel, which has sites in Webster and | | | | A number of law firms have been filing lawsuits |
| Irondequoit, and Serenity Hills Funeral Chapel, | | | | against the funeral homes and tissue companies |
| Rochester are alleged to be part of the BTS | | | | on behalf of family members whose loved ones' |
| problem. | | | | body parts were illegally stolen and sold for profit. |
| Stolen cadaver bones are an unethical practice | | | | Those in the class action lawsuit received tainted |
| driven by financial greed. Researchers' need for | | | | bone and dental implants. Although these tainted |
| stolen body parts runs high. A cadaver and its | | | | implants have not yet manifested any diseases, |
| parts could be worth as much as $200,000 | | | | they were improperly obtained from old, diseased, |
| depending on the age of the body. Dealing with | | | | infectious, and perhaps the terminally ill. Time will |
| stolen body parts is a new kind of human | | | | tell what lies ahead as far as their physical and |
| trafficking especially for children, teens, and young | | | | medical ramifications. |