Every day, thousands of Americans face the risk of death or disability due to the transplantation of substandard tissues. The reason: tissue providers are not required to attend medical courses, and doctors can purchase tissues as easily as buying… medical gloves.
A Forewarned Death
“Don’t worry!”, the doctor reassured the parents of patient B. Lykins before he was taken into the operating room with a knee injury. The doctor would take cartilage from a deceased donor to graft onto Lykins. Each year in the U.S., there are over a million surgeries that involve transplanting tissues from deceased individuals to living patients. Doctors indicate that the largest tissue bank in the country provided the cartilage for the surgery, ensuring it was completely sterilized and absolutely safe.
However, four days after the surgery, this vibrant 23-year-old student passed away due to a serious infection at the surgical site. He died as a result of receiving low-quality cartilage taken from a corpse that had not been refrigerated for 19 hours and had been rejected by two other tissue banks.
This is not an isolated case. K. Alesescu died on May 14 in San Luis Obispo from an infection affecting his heart valve. A. Minvielle in Santa Cruz lost his job and nearly had his leg amputated due to necrosis caused by an infected tendon graft. Such tragic deaths continue to occur due to the reckless actions of a few companies in the lucrative human body business, which is worth billions of dollars, and the shortcomings in the legal system.
A Lethal Gap
Lykins’ case caught the media’s attention because the tissue supplier was accused of harvesting body parts from corpses to sell to tissue banks without the consent of the deceased’s relatives. Every day, thousands of Americans face dangers from licensed tissue providers. There are currently 2,030 tissue companies operating across the United States. An investigation by the AP revealed numerous ethical violations in this highly profitable industry, ranging from careless microbial testing to the lack of a uniform system to trace the origin of tissues before they reach recipients.
If the American Association of Tissue Banks requires its members to adhere to strict regulations, the loose oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows hospitals and doctors to purchase tissues from unreliable suppliers, often with faster delivery times and lower prices. Not only does the FDA loosen regulations regarding tissue testing processes to detect infectious sources, but it also does not impose age or health restrictions on tissue donors, nor does it limit the time frame for harvesting tissues after a donor’s death.
Doctors are often unaware of the origins of the tissues they transplant into patients. Some hospitals procure tissues as easily as purchasing surgical gloves or other medical supplies, based merely on price and convenience. Another crucial aspect is that hospitals and doctors are not required to report cases of patients who develop infections due to tissue grafts. Furthermore, individuals do not need to undergo medical training to open a tissue bank or provide tissues. As a result, this business is booming at an alarming rate without strict regulation, as highlighted by the relatives of victim Lykins: “Anyone can open a tissue bank right in their garage!”
