Patients told transplant tissue may be tainted

March 19, 2006|Associated Press

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- At least 40 Vermont patients have been implanted with human tissue from a New Jersey company charged with stealing and selling body parts.

Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington has learned that 40 or more transplant patients received questionable tissue from Biomedical Tissue Services Inc.

Patients at Northwest Medical Center in St. Albans may also have been implanted with the possibly contaminated body parts.

Officials at Rutland Regional Medical Center said the hospital did not get tissue for transplants from BTS so none of its patients have been affected.

Fletcher Allen has notified the patients and has offered free blood tests to determine if they have been infected with any diseases.

BTS is accused of collecting more than 1,000 body parts without donor consent and selling them for use in transplants performed at hospitals and other medical facilities across the country. The owner of BTS and three others were charged in a scheme that earned them millions of dollars. All four have pleaded not guilty.

The Food and Drug Administration is concerned those parts were not tested and could be infected with the AIDS virus, syphilis, and hepatitis, but has said the risk of infection is small.

Health officials said no infections have been reported in Vermont patients who received BTS tissue.

Fletcher Allen said Tuesday that it had discovered that two patients had received BTS tissue.

The Vermont Department of Health notified the hospital on Friday of the additional patients.

The Health Department will post information about the issue on its website at www.healthyvermonters.org.

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