Body Parts Snatching Case Reverberates

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_he_me/body_part_snatchings&printer=1;_ylt=AuNFLqRdnDqXDUCP7UvAqY5a24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Body Parts Snatching Case Reverberates

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical WriterSat Feb 18, 1:19 PM ET

Every year more than 1 million Americans have medical procedures that use bone or other tissue from a cadaver — like disk replacements or dental implants.

But what if the donated tissue came from someone who died of cancer? Or AIDS? Or hepatitis?

That worry caused by a ghoulish scandal in the body parts business has led to distress for hundreds of people, and some prospective patients are now reconsidering how they want their surgeries done.
.....

"This is diabolical ... if what has been alleged has been done," said Dr. Stephen Pineda, an orthopedic surgeon in Springfield, Ill. "What it does to the whole public perception of bone and all other grafts can be catastrophic."......

[KT2000]

1. Better believe it!

this whole thing has me rethinking the organ donation program.
I may not be around to witness it, but I sure don't want my body parted out with some of it going to corporations working on more medications that only the wealthy can afford. #%&* That!

[doodadem]

2. I don't see how this is possible

I donated a kidney to my sister 20 years ago. I was in the hospital for a solid week just being tested for everything under the sun before they would do the surgery--longer than I was actually in for the surgery itself. I don't see how anything could have gotten past the lab.

My other sister received a cadaver kidney. There was also a huge amount of testing done before the surgery, not only for compatibility, but for any type of disease/infection, etc. They have to, because donor recipients have to be on anti-rejection meds the rest of their lives, which also seriously compromises their immune systems.