Stolen body parts linked to patients' illnesses

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Testing positive for a germ does not necessarily mean someone will develop a disease. For example, many people who test positive for hepatitis C will test negative six months later if the body’s immune system has defeated and cleared the virus.

Fogle declined to comment for this story but his lawyer, Joseph M. Lyon, said Fogle should have been made fully aware of the allegations against BTS.

“The notice minimizes the risk in this case,” Lyon said. “It appears when you read this letter it is a hypothetical risk. They downplayed the entire role of BTS.”

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Lawyers say the doctors and companies that processed and distributed the tissue diminished the risks in warning letters they sent to patients.

“People left the doctor’s office thinking 'big deal,' it was a document error,” said Patrick T. D’Arcy, a New Jersey lawyer representing about 200 people who received the suspect tissue.

In Ned Jackson’s case, he had surgery on his lower back at Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha on Aug. 12, 2003. More than two years later, his doctor told him the tissue used in his surgery had been recalled.

Blood tests indicated Jackson, who’s disabled, had contracted hepatitis B and C, according to the lawsuit.

“To hear something like that is really upsetting,” he said in a telephone interview.

Both Fogle and Jackson will have to prove their case if the companies involved decline to settle. Plaintiff’s lawyers acknowledge proving it won’t be easy. They’ll have to generate extensive medical histories and cement the connection to BTS.

“The proof issues involved are certainly challenging,” D’Arcy said.

Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said his agency is investigating reports of positive test results in tissue recipients.

“It will be very difficult to determine with any certainty if there is any connection between the infection in the tissue recipient and the tissue donor,” Srinivasan said.

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