Now There’s A Recall For Ya

While American toy manufacturers are feeling the heat from their imported and inferior quality Chinese made toys some people are facing recalls of a more serious nature – their body parts.

Man Sues Over Stolen Bone Placed in Neck

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – A man who found out the bone implanted in his neck to relieve back pain was stolen from a corpse is suing a medical technology company and several tissue processing businesses, including two in Tennessee.

James Livingston, 44, of Weatherford, does not seek a specific monetary amount in his suit filed in New York last month against Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. for fraud and negligence.

Other defendants are Memphis, Tenn.-based Sofamor Danek Inc.; Knoxville, Tenn.-based Spinalgraft Technologies Inc.; Alachua, Fla.-based Regeneration Technologies Inc.; Fort Lee, N.J.-based Biomedical Tissue Services; Michael Mastromarino and Joseph Nicelli.

“How can you sell parts out of a body, just like parts from a stolen car?” Livingston said.

New York authorities believe Mastromarino, owner of now-defunct Biomedical Tissue Services, made deals with funeral directors to remove bones, tendons and heart valves from corpses without notifying their families or screening for disease.

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After the New York investigation into Mastromarino, five tissue processors that received human parts from Biomedical Tissue Services issued voluntarily recalls. Medtronic, a distributor that received the parts, also issued a voluntary recall.

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Medtronic has voluntarily recalled about 16,000 bones nationwide, and tests on 12,000 to 13,000 people show no infectious disease that is traceable to the recalled tissue, said company spokesman Bert Kelly.

To answer Livingstons’ question about how people can sell stolen body parts — it’s easy, bottom line profit is involved.

Odd that this one didn’t get anywhere near the news cycle time Mattel’s lead paint problems did isn’t it?