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TAINTED TISSUE/CONTAMINATED TRANSPLANTS

Tainted Tissue/Contaminated Transplants: Our Attorneys in San Diego Can Help

The Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center handles cases involving contaminated transplants and tainted human tissue. Our attorneys in San Diego are committed to helping people who have experienced illness or suffering following their receipt of such infected tissue.

If you or someone you love has received a tainted tissue transplant and then developed an illness, contact Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center for a consultation to discuss your legal alternatives.

Transplants in the United States

Every year in the United States, more than a million people receive a transplant of human tissue. A transplant can save a life, restore someone's sight, or bring new life to a patient who would otherwise be in pain or disabled. For example, a transplant could be:

• an organ, such as the heart, kidney, lung, intestine, pancreas or liver
• a heart valve
• a blood vessel
• bone marrow
• a cornea
• a dental implant
• a skin graft
• a bone graft
• replacement of tendon or cartilage

These organs and body parts are all considered "tissue," and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the harvesting and processing of all human tissues in the United States. The U.S. companies that collect and cleanse these tissues for transplant into patients comprise a billion-dollar industry.

Injury from Both Illegally and Legally Obtained Human Tissue

Unfortunately, the regulation and oversight of this industry have been undermined by both inadequate cleaning and processing of human tissue and by an unscrupulous company charged with harvesting body parts illegally, falsifying the accompanying documentation, and distributing the parts to unsuspecting tissue banks for use in hospitals all over the United States. Thousands of people may have received such legally or illegally obtained "tainted tissue": attorneys with experience in this area can tell you more. To discuss whether you may be one of the many people who received contaminated transplants, contact our attorneys at the San Diego offices of Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center for a consultation.

The Biomedical Tissue Services Scandal and Class Action Lawsuit

In February 2006, the Brooklyn, New York district attorney arraigned the owner of Biomedical Tissue Services (BTS) of Fort Lee, New Jersey as well as a mortician and two other men on charges of body stealing, opening graves, unlawful dissection, forgery, and enterprise corruption. The district attorney (D.A.) and the FDA are also investigating more than 30 funeral homes in New York City, Philadelphia, and New Jersey that may have provided corpses or parts thereof to BTS. The defendants allegedly:

• falsified death certificates (to make some corpses "young enough" for tissue harvesting, and/or to make it appear that the corpses were free of disease)
• forged organ donor consent forms, and
• gave false, "clean" blood samples to accompany the tissue samples.

The D.A. contended that these activities occurred from 2001 to 2005. It is estimated that thousands of transplants may have taken place across the United States using this "tainted tissue." For example, just one corpse's skin can be used for hundreds of skin grafts, and bone can be emulsified and used in a paste to "plug" small holes in other bone.

Following the preliminary phase of their investigation of BTS, in March 2006 the FDA recommended that all healthcare providers inform patients who received a tissue transplant that they have an increased risk of infectious disease and should be tested by a physician for:

• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) forms -1 and -2
• AIDS
• Syphilis
• Hepatitis (B and C)
• Fungal infection
• Bacterial infection
• Other infectious diseases

A Biomedical Tissue Services class action lawsuit has been initiated. The tainted tissue transplant attorneys of Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center can tell you more about this lawsuit, and can advise you regarding whether you might be an appropriate participant.

In the wake of the BTS scandal, Senate and House versions of the "Safe Tissue Act" were introduced in May 2006, seeking better oversight of the human tissue industry. The Act's authors noted that much more needs to be done to safeguard the use of human tissues for transplant.

If you or someone in your family has received human tissue as a patient, it is advisable that you be tested immediately for infectious disease to determine whether you may have received a "tainted tissue transplant." Attorneys with knowledge of this issue can help protect your legal rights. Our contaminated transplants attorneys at the San Diego offices of Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center have the experience and resources to see you through such a difficult time.

CryoLife Bone and Tissue Recall

Another human tissue-processing company was the subject of an FDA bone and tissue recall in 2002. CryoLife, based in Kennesaw, Georgia was investigated after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that approximately half of the nation's transplant infection cases were associated with CryoLife implants. The FDA ordered CryoLife to recall all of its human tissue (other than allograft heart valves needed for pediatric cases) that it had processed since October 3, 2001. As a result, 7,913 potentially contaminated transplant products were "recalled." As one can imagine, it is very difficult to "recall" human tissue once it has been transplanted into a patient.

As with the BTS illegalities, the patients across the United States who received legally obtained human tissue from CryoLife have been put at risk for serious, sometimes life-threatening diseases. If you've developed an infection or disease after receiving a tainted tissue transplant of any kind, contact our contaminated transplants attorneys in San Diego for representation, to obtain fair compensation for your expenses and suffering.

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