14 DAY TRIAL // A woman from Pensacola, USA, may have contracted, according to her lawyers, HIV from bone tissue she received during a common surgery, the material being illegally harvested from a corpse not been screened for HIV. Kay Phelps, 43, is currently suing Tutogen Medical Inc. for have taken human body parts from corpses at a funeral home and selling it to hospitals all over the country.
The woman, who had a bone replaced in her face, tested negative for HIV two times, going through terrible anguish. "I am horribly disgusted, and I feel helpless. I have a lot of unanswered questions," she stated. The tissue in question was harvested by Biomedical Tissue Services, a company in New Jersey, currently under investigation for stealing corpses from funeral homes.
Michael Mastromarino, the owner of the company, pleaded not guilty in the trial accusing him of body stealing and opening graves, forgery and unlawful dissection. He is also accused of altering death certificates forging permission documents so that the body parts could be sold. Every year, more than 1 million Americans have medical procedures using tissue from cadavers.
Hospitals contracted people around the country, receiving tissue between early 2004 and September 2005, after testing the donors for AIDS, hepatitis and syphilis. Phelps paid for two HIV tests, which came out negative, and filed a lawsuit in the desire of helping others in the situation. "I'm just being a voice for the other recipients," she added.
Another 65-year-old woman who received stolen tissue tested positive for HIV on the first test, negative on the second and is still awaiting the results of a third test.