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New Jersey Law Suit Highlights Body Tissue Scandal
The Allegations
The lawsuit was filed in the state Supreme Court and is the third such case brought in New Jersey courts against Biomedical Tissue Services, which has come under fire in recent years for performing "harvests" of human body tissue (including bones, skin and other tissues) from cadavers without first obtaining the proper permissions or performing appropriate testing for communicable diseases and infections. Biomedical Tissue Services is said to have sold over 25,000 tissue samples to hospitals for use in surgical procedures.
The suit, which was brought by the survivors of Nancy E. Chamberlain, who died at age 71, alleges that Biomedical Tissue Services used tissue from Ms. Chamberlain's cadaver without acquiring familial consent. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the funeral home failed to inform the family that the tissue was being harvested.
BMT: Under Fire
Biomedical Tissue Services has relationships with funeral homes nationwide and has recently come under fire with hundreds of lawsuits from both the families of decedents whose cadavers were raided for tissue without permission and tissue transplant patients who fell victim to diseases and infections when they were given diseased tissue transplants.
The company was ordered to cease manufacturing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2006, citing "serious and widespread deficiencies" in the company's tissue manufacturing practices. The order cited falsified death certificates, cross-contamination of tissues, inadequate screening practices, and other actions that lead to a health crisis related to tissue transplants, most of which are irreversible procedures.
Human Body Tissue - A Continued Scandal
The case against Biomedical Tissue Services is just one among many; the issue of improprieties surrounding the harvesting and transplantation of human body tissue is a serious one that affects millions of Americans. Human body tissue ethics violations range from funeral parlors running illegal stolen tissue rings to ongoing health and safety violations and failure to follow standard procedure when providing human body tissue for donation to those in need of tissue transplants for dental procedures, back surgery, heart-valve replacements, joint replacements, and skin grafts.
If you or someone you love has been affected by a diseased body tissue transplant or has experienced the theft of human body tissue, contact an attorney immediately. Your human body tissue attorney can help assess your case and any potential monetary damage, file your claim with the proper authorities and courts, and help you recover the money you rightfully deserve for medical treatment, pain and suffering and other damages.
