Dozens Of Investigations Into Deaths In California Have Been Thwarted Because Victims’ Bodies Were Harvested For Parts
Organ procurement before an investigation has long been legal, provided the coroner agrees. But a Los Angeles Times investigation finds dozens of cases where the coroner was left guessing at the cause of death because body parts were harvested early. As a result malpractice suits couldn't be proven and even a murder charge had to be dropped.
When 69-year-old Marietta Jinde died in September 2016, police had already been called to her home several times because of reports of possible abuse. A detective described conditions at the woman鈥檚 home in Gardena as 鈥渉orrendous.鈥 She was so emaciated and frail that the hospital asked Los Angeles County adult protective services officials to look into her death. Yet by the time a coroner鈥檚 investigator was able to examine Jinde鈥檚 70-pound body, the bones from her legs and arms were gone. Also missing were large patches of skin from her back. (Petersen, 10/13)
As the sun set over the Nevada desert, coroners from across the country mingled with business executives, sipping icy margaritas and Tanqueray and tonics by a pool. The private party, held on the terrace of Las Vegas鈥 Golden Nugget hotel on a summer night in 2017, was a gift from Cryolife, a biotech company that sells valves sliced from human hearts to be used as medical devices. The festivities reflected the cozy relationship that has grown in recent years between the nation鈥檚 coroners and the industry that trades in tissues from human cadavers. (Petersen, 10/13)
The industry that trades in human tissue has said there has never been a case in which the harvesting of body parts complicated a death investigation by a medical examiner or coroner. The Times studied reports of autopsies performed by medical examiners in Los Angeles and San Diego, finding more than two dozen investigations that were upended or delayed by the procurement of tissues or organs. Several deaths under investigation by detectives went unsolved, a death after a fight with police remains unsettled, and families have been left without answers to why their loved ones died. (Petersen, 10/13)
When the Los Angeles Times asked for details of the human tissue procurement industry鈥檚 operations inside five large California county morgues, public officials worked with corporate executives to keep the activities secret, according to internal government emails. At a convention of California county coroners in September 2017, the companies鈥 executives discussed filing a lawsuit to block the release of information that reporters had requested under California鈥榮 public records law. The companies later decided against the lawsuit, according to an executive鈥檚 email, because of fears it would spark controversy. (Petersen, 10/13)
