Companies Involved and Suspected

The primary company behind the majority of questionable tissue samples in the recent tainted tissue firestorm is Biomedical Tissue Services, or BTS, a now-defunct New Jersey-based tissue supply company. Michael Mastromarino and Joseph Nicelli created BTS as a front to sell tissue illegally carved from corpses at Nicelli's funeral parlors. As the company grew, it is believed that BTS illicitly obtained tissues by using cash to bribe funeral parlors to ignore forged or bogus death certificates and family consent forms.

BTS sold these potentially tainted tissues to a number of legitimate tissue banks, including Medtronic Inc., SpinalGraft Technologies, LLC, Lifecell Corp., Regeneration Technologies, Inc., Tutogen Medical, Inc., Blood & Tissue Center of Central Texas, and Lost Mountain Tissue Bank. It is important to note that these companies are not accused of any wrongdoing, but they may have unknowingly sentenced patients to AIDS, HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis by failing to ensure the safety and integrity of the questionable tissues. Over 1,000 people have committed to a class action lawsuit against BTS, and there will likely be more claims filed in the future.

In a similar but unrelated incident, the Director of the Willed Body Program at UCLA Medical Center, Henry Reid, was arrested due to a scandal that involved a $700,000 payoff from a body parts dealer to enter into the UCLA body storage facility and "chop up" over 800 bodies in order to remove their bones, corneas, and ligaments. It is unknown how many of these tissues made it into recipients, but health experts warn of a potential health crisis if they were not screened properly.

If you or someone you love was the recipient of a recent tissue transplant, you may be at risk of potentially deadly diseases such as HIV, AIDS, syphilis, and hepatitis. The safety of thousands of people has been jeopardized due to the repugnant and despicable actions of a few greedy individuals. Let a dedicated and compassionate attorney help get you get the justice you deserve and the financial compensation that you may be entitled to for your extensive physical and emotional suffering. Don't wait - contact someone immediately.