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Three Philadelphia-Area Funeral Directors Nabbed in Scheme Selling Body Parts
Fox News ^ | October 4, 2007 | Associated Press

Posted on 10/04/2007 7:12:39 PM PDT by nmh

Three Philadelphia-Area Funeral Directors Nabbed in Scheme Selling Body Parts

Thursday, October 04, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — Three funeral directors sold hundreds of bodies to a former oral surgeon who allegedly collected the bones, tissue and skin from the corpses to be used in transplants, a grand jury charged Thursday after a 16-month investigation.

The 244 bodies fetched about $1,000 each, the grand jury found, with the body parts being transplanted in unsuspecting medical patients worldwide.

Michael Mastromarino, who operated the now-defunct Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the scheme with help from a team of "cutters" who stole the body parts, authorities said. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia.

...

While the mostly poor families thought their loved ones were being cremated quickly, the bodies were often left unrefrigerated for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a cutter arrived, authorities said.

"One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, it was so dirty," Abraham said.

The funeral directors forged death certificates that said the donors had died of heart attacks or blunt-force trauma but were otherwise healthy, prosecutors said. In one such case, the donor was HIV-positive and suffered from hepatitis C and cancer. One woman who believes she contracted hepatitis from a tainted body part is pursuing a civil suit, Abraham said.

...

The company sold the parts to treat burns, replace broken bones and provide for other medical needs, the 111-page indictment said. The black-market sales occurred from at least February 2004 through September 2005, prosecutors said.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bodyparts; funeral; organharvesting; parts; partsisparts; sell; transplants
No respect for the dead.

This is disgusting.

1 posted on 10/04/2007 7:12:47 PM PDT by nmh
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To: nmh
No respect for the dead.

No respect for the living who were sickened by tainted material.

2 posted on 10/04/2007 7:21:29 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("Be deranged in a consistent manner. Manson was nuts, but at least he was always on message." --dead)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Very true!


3 posted on 10/04/2007 7:22:42 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: nmh

...the bodies were often left unrefrigerated for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home...


WTF???!!!


4 posted on 10/04/2007 7:23:39 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: nmh

Hey with a murder count almost as high as DC they gotta make a buck.


5 posted on 10/04/2007 7:29:11 PM PDT by George from New England
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To: nmh

So what happened to the oral surgeon?


6 posted on 10/04/2007 7:29:46 PM PDT by Cvengr (The violence of evil is met with the violence of righteousness, justice, love and grace.)
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To: nmh

And here I thought they were making an arm and a leg in those mortuaries....


7 posted on 10/04/2007 7:31:21 PM PDT by Cvengr (The violence of evil is met with the violence of righteousness, justice, love and grace.)
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To: nmh

There is nothing lower than an organlegger.


8 posted on 10/04/2007 7:31:47 PM PDT by magslinger (Submission? That's a bit of a problem!-Leonidas (300))
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To: nmh

I got to go brush my teeth.....


9 posted on 10/04/2007 7:32:15 PM PDT by texas_mrs
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To: Cvengr
Your guess is as good as mine!

How could the receiving doctor not know or rather not test this stuff to make sure it was suitable? This is like something out of a horror movie.

10 posted on 10/04/2007 7:34:02 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: nmh

“...parts is parts.”


11 posted on 10/04/2007 7:37:50 PM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich!)
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To: Grizzled Bear

12 posted on 10/04/2007 7:54:03 PM PDT by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: nmh

What’s the fuss, the dead don’t care?!


13 posted on 10/04/2007 7:54:57 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (We all need someone we can bleed on...)
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To: nmh

Second posting of this kind of stuff—other was Tennessee—in the the past 10 days to two weeks.

How many more are out there?


14 posted on 10/04/2007 8:48:22 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (If you can sell it, they will steal it to sell)
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To: magslinger

Bingo - thanks for the reference.

And if we think it bad now, just wait until the Governement gets involved....

I used to think Larry Niven just just waaaaay ahead of the times, now, I’m not so sure.


15 posted on 10/05/2007 10:00:06 AM PDT by ASOC (Yeah, well, maybe - but can you *prove* it?)
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To: ASOC
I used to think Larry Niven just just waaaaay ahead of the times, now, I’m not so sure.

Yes, but Ringworld is still unstable.

16 posted on 10/05/2007 10:10:42 AM PDT by magslinger (Submission? That's a bit of a problem!-Leonidas (300))
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To: ApplegateRanch

I don’t know.

It shocked and disgusted me.


17 posted on 10/05/2007 10:11:10 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: magslinger

Ya, I read the “Children of” book. Where can I get an autodoc?

As a plot device it cannot be beat....


18 posted on 10/05/2007 10:52:14 AM PDT by ASOC (Yeah, well, maybe - but can you *prove* it?)
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To: ASOC

http://www.misckit.com/press/press_autodoc_2.0b8.html


19 posted on 10/05/2007 11:01:21 AM PDT by magslinger (Submission? That's a bit of a problem!-Leonidas (300))
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