Biomedical Tissue Services Scandal Investigation May Widen
January 22nd, 2008 amy
The Associated Press has reported that Michael Mastromarino, former owner of Biomedical Tissue Services, has agreed to talk to investigators about the companies that bought the stolen tissue in an effort to escape a lengthy jail sentence in cases in Philadelphia and New York. Mastromarino allegedly stole body parts from over 1,000 cadavers from funeral homes and sold the parts and tissue.
The bodies came from funeral homes in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. BTS shipped the bone, skin and tendons to Regeneration Technologies Inc., LifeCell Corp. and Tutogen Medical Inc., all publicly traded companies, along with two nonprofits, Lost Mountain Tissue Bank and the Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas, the Associated Press reports.
Per the AP, Minneapolis-based health giant Medtronic Inc., which distributed some of the tissue it received from Regeneration, also has been sued but says the case is without merit.
The parts were used in disk replacements, knee operations, dental implants and a variety of other surgical procedures performed by unsuspecting doctors across the United States and in Canada. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by BTS












