The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "tissue harvesting" ...
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Stealing From the Dead
This story tells the exclusive inside story of an Indianapolis business man who purchased a funeral home in New York where funeral home workers are accused of raiding the cadavers entrusted to their care. It exposed delays by the King County Prosecutor's office in its investigation of the case. The federal government also failed. FDA records reveal years of violations cited against the tissue processor in this case, but the FDA leveled no clear sanctions until it finally launched the nation's largest human tissue recall.The oversight lapses allowed 1900 pieces of potentially unscreened tissue into hospital operating rooms across the country. The story uncovers the first Indiana patient to test postitive for a potentially life threatening disease after receiving an implant from the recalled batch.
Tags: tissue harvesting; funeral homes; cadavers; implants; FDA; transplants
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Ethical problems plagued brain donations in Maine
This investigation documented the many problems and flaws with a brain-harvesting program run by the state. Problems range from the fact that the man who coordinated the program was paid on a "per-brain basis" and used unethical tactics to solicit consent from families of the deceased. Furthermore, the state medical examiner was linked to both the brain harvester and the researchers who used the brains.
Tags: surgery; transplants; organ donors; tissue banks; research
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Harvest of Corneas at Morgue Questioned
The Times exposed an extensive abuse of a little-known state law that allowed the Los Angeles County Dept. of Coroner/Medical Examiner to sell thousands of corneas from homicide, suicide and accident victims without the knowledge or permission from the next-of-kin, many of whom were within easy reach by telephone or death scenes. Under a "cost recovery" contract, the county collected between $215 and $335 per pair of corneas recovered by a prominent local eye bank, which then marked up the tissue 1,400 % to transplant institutions. The pressure to use the county morgue as a source of corneas was so great that some former eye bank technicians said the practice bordered on the ghoulish, with tissue taken in some cases from dead donors considered medically risky under federal guidelines.
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