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Transplant firm ‘took liberties with corpses’
Allan Hall in Berlin25.08.09
A subsidiary of the world's biggest human tissue transplant firm is facing a criminal probe for using illegally imported body parts from Ukrainian corpses to export for sale in the US.
Tutogen, which is owned by RTI Biologics of America, is alleged to have “disturbed the peace of the dead” in the illegal organ trade.
The business, based in the Bavarian city of Bamberg, is being investigated by prosecutors after accusations that it illegally stripped corpses of organs without the full consent of relatives in the poor Eastern European country. It denies wrongdoing. RTI Biologics is valued on the New York Stock Exchange at $266 million (£163 million) and is the biggest company of its kind in the world.
Wladimir Jurtschenko, a senior forensic specialist in Kiev, said many relatives complained of the deceased having been stripped of bones and organs without consent. In many cases, he said, corpses were returned to their family as “gross caricatures” of the person they once were.
Lena Krat agreed to sell her father's skin for transplants. But she claims that, against her express wishes, his corpse was stripped of ligaments, bones and cartilage and returned to her resembling a “deflated lilo”.
Reader views (2)
Hang on, you're telling me human body parts are traded? Since when was it legal to profit from death? This is either a joke story or we're entering a genuine SciFi like dystopia. And I was worried about CCTV and being nicked for doing 35MPH by a jobsworth. So, how many people will be murdered for profit? What a living nightmare 'humanity' is seeding.
- Oflife, Oxford
Whilst stripping dead bodies of organs without their (prehumous) or their familie's consent is obviously wrong, however, to sell your grandfather's skin for money then complain when they took bones and cartilage (presumably without paying) is a bit rich.
- Liberal And Proud, London, UK
