Are you satisfied with your physical appearance? Are you a self-confident person? do you find yourself attractive? Well, if you do not then probably you would like to have a plastic surgery. For many it is the only possible way to change attitude to themselves. at the same time you may risk taking the decision. the result of the cosmetic surgery may be unpleasant. It depends on the surgeon and of course on your expectations. if you do not like the final result it may destroy your life and make things worse. Let’s see what are pros and cons of having plastic surgery.
In case you do not like your facial features of course you may have a cosmetic surgery. I know a girl who is literally dreaming of changing the shape of her nose. As for me I’m sure that she is attractive and her nose is just perfect. But it is impossible to persuade her to think another way. So she is going to have plastic surgery to become more attractive and even desirable. I suppose it concerns more her psychological health not physical appearance. Hopefully if she has a cosmetic surgery it would affect her psychological state. thus plastic surgery elevates someone’s self-esteem. after having a cosmetic surgery people become more self-confident and even happy and satisfied. As for me inner world is much more important than physical appearance. But it is just another story.
At the same time to have a plastic surgery is quite expensive. You buy a pig in a poke as you never know what would be the result. And again it would depend not only on the skill of the surgeon. It mainly depend on the fact whether your expectations are real. some patients are dreaming to look like a Hollywood star. Well, just try to be reasonable and realistic.
Many people think that a plastic surgeon is someone who only performs elective procedures designed to improve the way that people look. however, in reality, they do far more than this. Cosmetic surgery comes in a variety of forms and is performed for a number of purposes. Most commonly, this kind of surgery is used to help patients who are the victims of some kind of injury, to reduce the appearance of surgical scarring, and as an elective procedure.
Helping Victims of Accidents
Cosmetic surgery is intended to help patients who have problems with their appearance. One of the most common cases in which these procedures are used is in cases where a patient has been the victim of an accident that has left him or her badly scarred. Burn victims can often benefit greatly from surgical procedures of this kind because their injuries come with lots of scarring. Operations of this type are greatly beneficial to the patient’s overall quality of life.
Reducing the Appearance of Surgical Scarring
Another common use of cosmetic surgery is to help reduce the appearance of surgical scarring. If a surgeon is performing a procedure that has a high risk of leaving the patient with scars a plastic surgeon will often be consulted to treat the patient after his or her initial procedure. this is because these doctors are especially talented when it comes to reducing the appearance of surgical scars, and this is an important service to the medical profession and to patients who need are prone to severe scarring.
Finally, elective procedures also constitute a large part of the cosmetic surgery performed in the United States. these procedures are ones that the patient chooses to have because he or she thinks that his or her appearance will benefit from having them. Breast augmentations, facelifts, and liposuction are common examples of these operations. like the above kinds of surgeries, these procedures are also important in their own way. Patients who undergo them often report improvements in their quality of life and in the way that they feel about themselves and their bodies.
As you can see, cosmetic surgery is an important sub-field within the medical community. It can help patients who are the victims of accidents, patients who have extensive surgical scarring, and it is an important elective option for many patients as well. Contrary to what many believe, surgeons who specialize in this field perform a variety of services and are an indispensable part of the medical profession.
Most people in Hollywood—arguably the most image-conscious place on the planet—have reportedly had some nips and tucks. even icons like Marilyn Monroereportedly had a little work done.
But some stars have taken going under the knife way to the extreme and the results aren’t pretty.
These 17 celebrities paid up to $1 million dollars for puffy lips and stretched-out faces. We found some compilation videos on YouTube that showcase the worst of the worst.
There’s one model who’s so puffy from Botox you’ll barely recognize her. plus, a rock star who barely looks human.
Amanda Lepore is a 44-year-old transgender model and recording artist. her repeated anti-aging attempts left her looking like this.
Guns N’ Roses’ 50-year-old frontman Axl Rose reportedly got cheek implants and a facelift.
Former French first Lady Carla Bruni’s puffy face is reportedly the result of Botox.
Some people who want plastic surgery think, if I’m going to be under anesthesia anyway, why not have several plastic surgery procedures all at once? Indeed, this is often done on television programs about plastic surgery. There’s no one real answer to the question of how many procedures you can have at once. Some surgeries can be done at the same time with minimal chances of problems, while combining other procedures can be dangerous.
There are some advantages to having multiple procedures at once. You recover from several procedures simultaneously rather than one at a time if you spread the operations out. your overall costs will drop, since you’re using the operating room one time and having anesthesia one time. A study published in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery reported that the length of time a patient spends under anesthesia during outpatient facial plastic surgery does not appear to be linked to a higher incidence of injury or death.
When the television series Extreme Makeover first came on, the concept of having multiple procedures at once was new and didn’t happen often. but now, patients go over their wish list with their surgeons wanting several procedures at the same time. Many surgeons are OK with this, but most doctors agree that more than six hours under general anesthesia pose too great a risk. but in otherwise healthy patients, two or more surgical procedures can be done at a time.
It is a general rule of thumb that the longer a patient is under general anesthesia, the longer it takes to recover. Anesthesia has a significant effect on the cardiovascular system. Therefore some surgeons believe that it is better to put their patients through one surgery for a longer duration rather than two separate cosmetic surgeries. However, after multiple procedures, soreness and swelling usually last longer, so multiple operations at once are only an option for people who have enough time to recover. there are other surgeons who would rather perform procedures one at a time and gauge progress after each surgery, and perhaps fine tune anesthesia for future surgeries.
Having multiple surgeries at one time, or having plastic surgeries on separate occasions both have advantages and disadvantages. The multiple procedures that you want may or may not work well in one session, and your surgeon should be able to adequately explain why or why not that is the case. A Board Certified plastic surgeon in partnership with a skilled and experienced anesthesiologist make the best surgical teams, whether they are able to do all your procedures at once, or whether they want to do them separately.
Find out what the bachelorette likes. is she a dog person? maybe she likes ladybugs, or is deep into the good ol’ seventies.
As a friend of the bachelorette, you might already know this. Having a few selected friends to be a part of and share the experience of a pre-wedding party, will naturally have all the info necessary to know what the bachelorette is all about. in case you don’t know what criteria to use and find out, here’s a list…
Create a Laser Specific Bachelorette Party Theme
1) What is her personality? is she a party person? is she shy?
2) What does she like/like to do?
3) What is her favorite animal?
4) What does she like to eat?
5) What’s her line of work?
6) does she have a lot of spare time (after work)?
8) her favorite TV shows/movies?
9) her most liked hobbies?
10) What charity does she like?
11) If she couldn’t fail to do anything she wanted, what would that be?
12) her favorite color
13) her lucky number?
14) her favorite scent?
15) What moment in time, is her most happiest memory/when did she feel the best?
16) her proudest moment?
17) does she have any quirks (some small thing that defines her as a person)?
When you have all the information, incorporate a small bit of everything into a recognizable theme. here are some to choose from Bachelorette party themes to get you started, so come inside.
What’s included in the bachelorette party themes are costumes, accessories and a few surprises that you’ll benefit from along the way to shaping your unique bachelorette party theme.
Now when you have your information about her, you need to outline the plan on how to implement all the small things she loves so much. Take one step at a time.
1) Find the appropriate products & services that goes along with what you have learned.
2) Buy/hire the services for those that are invited to come.
3) Spread the links/resources to the theme based products so that the busy invitees would save the time & effort and not have to research where to buy the clothes, accessories etc.
4) Select time, date, location, additional information.
5) Send to group…done!
So there you have it, a simple formula to create your own personalized bachelorette party theme.
Best of luck to you, and we hope you´ll enjoy every second of this easy to use system.
Create a Laser Specific Bachelorette Party Theme See Ladybug Costume Relate Video Outstyling Mona Ep 101 Video Clips. Duration : 2.45 Mins. OUTSTYLING MONA… Elite celebrity stylist Ney Brit has a prerogative: his celebrity client, Sally, must outstyle Sally’s celebrity friend, Mona, in every possible way. Ney Brit will make Sally outstyle Mona with better makeup, hairstyles and wardrobe, while also being Sally’s agent and managing her modeling, acting and singing career. While he may be a narcissism and selfishness god, Ney Brit cares more for Sally than anything else in his life and will make her outstyle her best friend Mona. Episode 101 – Sally goes on a double-date Episode 102 – Sally gets breathtakingly hairless legs Episode 103 – Sally gets a Moroccan tan Episode 104 – Sally gets plastic surgery Episode 105 – Sally gets a photoshoot Episode 106 – Sally gets a movie role Episode 107 – Sally plans Mona’s bachelorette party Episode 108 – Sally goes to Mona’s wedding Episode 109 – Sally plays in an independent short film Episode 110 – Sally launches her first music studio album Episode 111 – Sally is nominated for Best Actress Episode 112 – Sally says goodbye to show business Tags: fashion, style, celebrity, britney spears, glamour, glamourous, red carpet, hair, makeup, hairstyle, hair styles, ward robe, wardrobe, clothes, clothing, fashionista, Amanda Lepore, Amanda Lapore, tanning, tan, wedding, show, show business, music, photo, photo shoot, modeling, model, plastic surgery, bachelorette, shaving, laser hair removal, boob, boob job, breast implants, series, web series, brit, 80s, 1980, 1980s, chandelier, pink, purple, britney spears 3, britney 3
We’re very lucky that the creator of the Cerevellum is even alive. Evan Solida was a competitive cyclist until a major accident in 2007 left him unable to ride. After years of plastic surgery and physical therapy, he was able to get back onto his bike and now builds unique cycle designs, does contract work, and just released his first product, the Hindsight 35.
This unique device is essentially a rear view monitor and race computer for cyclists. it connects to various sensors using ANT+ wireless technology and a small lens and light combo on the back of the bike gives you a full view of what’s coming up behind you in brilliant color. The device also records the scene in five minute bursts and stops recording when you (or your bike) are suddenly interrupted by a collision. In short, it’s a way for cyclists to find out what’s behind them and, if they run into a spot of bad luck, see who’s responsible.
The device itself is essentially a 3.5-inch screen mounted to your handlebar with a cable that connects to the camera. an optional heart rate monitor and speed sensor allows for on-the-fly measurements that appear on screen as you ride.
To be clear, the Hindsight 35 is a shipping product but is more of a beta product. Because Solida designed, built, and manufactured this product himself, it’s definitely not fully-featured just yet. Luckily, the device is fully upgradable and future systems will include a GPS chip – there’s a place on the circuit board but it’s not yet installed.
A bundle with heart rate monitor and speed sensor costs $363.50 and the device itself costs $299. it also lets you record rides – albeit in rear view – with the press of a button.
I tried the Hindsight in the crowded streets of Brooklyn and I’m happy to report that it really works and it makes me feel just a bit safer. Riding down 65th Street near my house is always a wild experience but this let me see who was about to pass me and where I was in relation to other cars. Sadly, the transflective display is great in sunlight but nearly disappears when you’re wearing polarized glasses so you either have to look around your shades or eschew them altogether. Regular shades work fine.
Cerevellum is a true hardware startup built by a guy who knows his stuff. His story – and his hardware – is inspiring and his rearview is well worth the price, especially for biking gearheads like me.
Patients with a common type of metal hip implant should have annual health checks for as long as they have the implant, according to the UK body for regulating medical devices. the all-metal devices have been found to wear down at an accelerated rate in some patients, potentially causing damage and deterioration in the bone and tissue around the hip. there are also concerns that they could leak traces of metal into the bloodstream, which the annual medical checks will monitor.
Hours before critical coverage from the British Medical Journal and the BBC, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued new guidelines on larger forms of ‘metal-on-metal’ (MoM) hip implants. Advice on smaller metal devices or those featuring a ceramic head has not changed. Previously, guidelines suggested larger MoM implants should only be checked annually for five years after surgery. the agency now says the annual check-ups should be continued for the life of the implant. Check-ups, they say, are a precautionary measure to reduce the “small risk” of complications and the need for further surgery.
Together with the recent controversy over PIP breast implants, the news has caused the media and patient groups to call for tighter regulation of medical devices, perhaps bringing the approval process into line with that of medicines. Before they can be approved for wider use drugs must undergo several years of laboratory, animal and human testing .
There are numerous designs and materials used to make hip implants. in recent days the MHRA has issued major updates to its advice on a type of metal-on-metal (MoM) hip replacement. as the name implies, MoM implants feature a joint made of two metal surfaces – a metal ‘ball’ that replaces the ball found at the top of the thigh bone (femur) and a metal ‘cup’ that acts like the socket found in the pelvis.
What should I do if I have a hip implant?
Consult your doctor if you do not know which type of implant you have or if you have any concerns about your hip replacement. the new guidance only applies to large head metal-on-metal implants, which have been used in only a minority of hip replacements. Patients who have MoM implants should ensure they attend any follow-up appointments as usual, and can consult the hip implant pages on NHS Choices for any further updates.
Consult your doctor if you have any of the following symptoms:
pain in the groin, hip or leg
swelling at or near the hip joint
a limp or problems walking
These symptoms do not necessarily mean that your device is failing, but they do need investigating.
Any changes in general health should also be reported, including:
chest pain or shortness of breath
numbness or weakness
changes in vision or hearing
fatigue
feeling cold
weight gain
change in urination habits
The MHRA’s updated advice concerns the type of MoM implant in which the head of the femur is 36mm or greater. This is often referred to as a ‘large head’ implant. the agency now says that patients fitted with this type of implant should be monitored annually for the life of the implant, and that they should also have tests to measure levels of metal particles (ions) in their blood. Patients with these implants who have symptoms should also have MRI or ultrasound scans, and patients without symptoms should have a scan if their blood levels of metal ions are rising. the previous guidance on this type of hip implant, issued in April 2010, advised that patients should be monitored annually for no fewer than five years.
Advice on monitoring patients with other types of hip implants remains the same, and guidance has not changed on:
MoM hip resurfacing implants – where the socket and ball of the hip bone has a metal surface applied to it rather than being totally replaced.
Total MoM implants where the replacement ball is less than 36mm wide.
A particular range of hip replacements called DePuy ASR – these hip replacements were recalled by their manufacturer, DePuy, in 2010 because of high failure rates. the company made three types of ASR implant.
Implants featuring ceramic heads.
It is estimated that, in total, 49,000 people in the UK have been given metal-on-metal implants with a width of 36mm or above. This represents a minority of the patients given hip replacements, who mostly have devices featuring plastic, ceramics or smaller metal heads.
In 2010 there were 68,907 new hip replacements fitted, and approximately 1,300 of these surgeries used an MoM implant sized 36mm or above – a rate of around 2%.
All hip implants will wear down over time as the ball and cup slide against each other during walking and running. although many people live the rest of their lives without needing their implant to be replaced, any implant may eventually need surgery to remove or replace its components. Surgery to remove or replace part of the implant is known as ‘revision’ and, of the 76,759 procedures performed in 2010, some 7,852 were revision surgeries.
However, data now suggest that large head MoM hip implants (those with a width of 36mm or greater) wear down at a faster rate than other types of implants. as friction acts upon their surfaces it can cause tiny metal particles (medically referred to as ‘debris’) to break off and enter the space around the implant. Individuals are thought to react differently to the presence of these metal particles, but, in some people, they can trigger inflammation and discomfort in the area around the implant. Over time this can cause damage and deterioration in the bone and tissue surrounding the implant and joint. This, in turn, may cause the implant to become loose and cause painful symptoms, meaning that further surgery is required.
News coverage has also focused on the MHRA’s recommendation to check for the presence of metal ions in the bloodstream, potentially released either from debris or the implant itself. Ions are electrically charged molecules. Levels of ions in the bloodstream, particularly of the cobalt and chromium used in the surface of the implants, may, therefore, indicate how much wear there is to the artificial hip.
There has been no definitive link between ions from MoM implants and illness, although there has been a small number of cases in which high levels of metal ions in the bloodstream have been associated with symptoms or illnesses elsewhere in the body, including effects on the heart, nervous system and thyroid gland.
The MHRA points out that most patients with MoM implants have well functioning hips and are thought to be at low risk of developing serious problems. However, a small number of patients with these hip implants develop soft tissue reactions to the debris associated with some MoM implants.
In the UK, the MHRA is the government agency responsible for ensuring that medical devices work and are safe. the MHRA audits the performance of private sector organisations (called notified bodies) that assess and approve medical devices. once a product is on the market and in use, the MHRA has a system for receiving reports of problems with these products, and will issue warnings if these problems are confirmed through their investigations. It also inspects companies that manufacture products to ensure they comply with regulations.
This system differs greatly from that for testing and approving drugs. Drugs require several years of research testing and trials before they can be approved for clinical use.
The MHRA has convened an expert advisory group to look at the problems associated with MoM implants. This meets regularly to assess new scientific evidence and reports from doctors and medical staff treating patients. the agency says it is continuing to monitor closely all the latest evidence about these devices and may issue further advice in the future.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is gathering additional information about adverse events in patients with MoM implants. in the meantime, it advises patients with MoM hip implants who have no symptoms to attend follow-up appointments as normal with their surgeon. Patients who develop symptoms should see their surgeon promptly for further evaluation.
In light of the PIP breast implant controversy and this new information on hip implants, there is currently intense scrutiny on the way medical devices are regulated in the UK and Europe, with patient groups and the media arguing that medical devices should be regulated in a similar way to medicines.
Clearing a medicine for use in the UK is a lengthy process involving several stages of laboratory and animal testing, and then carefully controlled and monitored tests in humans. only once there is enough evidence to suggest that a medicine is reasonably safe can it enter clinical use, and even then patients will be monitored to look at the longer-term effects of the drug.
However, medical devices are not required to go through human trials before entering use, and can currently be approved on the basis of mechanical tests and animal research. While certain devices, such as hip implants, have been monitored through systems such as the National Joint Registry, in light of the recent health concerns over PIP breast implants, patient groups are calling for more testing before devices are allowed into clinical use, and closer mandatory monitoring schemes to ensure their safety once they enter the market.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — a St. Louis graduate student who was mauled by chimpanzees while giving a tour of their South Africa sanctuary this summer will be returning home for treatment, an official at Saint Louis University Hospital said Thursday.
Andrew Oberle, who has been in a medically-induced coma since the June 28 attack, is scheduled to be transferred from a South African hospital next week. Dr. Bruce Kraemer, chief of plastic surgery at Saint Louis University Hospital, will oversee his care, hospital spokeswoman Laura Keller said.
Oberle, 26, lost both ears, his left arm and toes in the June 28 attack, according to relatives. Keller said he’ll likely undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery, although his exact treatment plan hadn’t been set.
"We’ll do a full assessment of his condition when he arrives," Keller said.
The attack happened at the Jane Goodall Institute’s Chimpanzee Eden SA. Oberle, a University of Texas at San Antonio student, was working at the chimp sanctuary as part of his graduate program in anthropology. he was leading a tour when two chimps attacked him, pulling him under a fence and dragging him about a half-mile before it was over.
Oberle’s uncle, Daniel Coogan, wrote on the Facebook page, "help Andrew Oberle," on Thursday that Oberle "continues to get stronger and his condition improves daily!" Coogan did not respond to an interview request.
Officials at the refuge said this week that the chimps that mauled Oberle were being reintroduced at the center. The animals — Amadeus and Nikki — were in separate cages. Eugene Cussons of the Goodall Institute said scientists would watch their behavior before letting them back together and with other chimps.
Amadeus, the alpha male, had been held in solitary confinement at the center since the attack. Nikki was shot in the abdomen and leg after the attack, and was transferred from the Johannesburg Zoo to the refuge last weekend.
Cussons has said it was the first attack by chimps since the refuge opened six years ago.
This is the fourth installment of a four-part series.
Mandi Eisenbeis stood over her dad. it was a Thursday in May 2011 when she said her private good-byes at a funeral parlor in Lodi, Calif. George “Randy” Eisenbeis had died young, felled at age 57 by a methamphetamine overdose.
As she looked at him lying in the coffin, she noticed his hands were oozing blood.
Eisenbeis didn’t know what had happened until later, when she learned the funeral director had sent a scathing complaint to the California Transplant Donor Network, the nonprofit organ and tissue bank that had stripped out Randy Eisenbeis’ usable parts.
“To say this was simply a ‘hack job’ would be a compliment,” Lodi Funeral Home’s Michael Collins wrote in a letter accompanied by a series of graphic photos of the torn-apart corpse. “I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that you left his head and his hands for viewing, and yes, that is his severed foot in the photo to the bottom left of the embalming table.”
In March the family sued the California organ bank, accusing it of fraud, mutilation of a corpse, and infliction of emotional distress.
According to call logs made of the consent process, the bank told Mandi Eisenbeis at least four times during the recorded consent process that the body would be properly put back together. she and the family couldn’t give informed consent, the lawsuit charges, because those promises were lies designed to manipulate them into giving their okay.
The California Transplant Donor Network is accredited by the industry gold standard — the American Association of Tissue Banks. According to its policies, tissue banks are required to reassemble a body out of respect for donors, their families and the professionals who handle bodies on their way to burial or cremation.
The tissue bank declined requests to comment for this story. In court filings the tissue bank has denied wrongdoing. In an earlier public statement the organization suggested that Randy Eisenbeis’ corpse had been in good condition when it sent it to the morgue for autopsy. “No matter how complex the reconstruction process may be, it is a standard to which we adhere consistently,” it said. “Unfortunately, we cannot speak to what may transpire once a donor’s body leaves our control.”
The medical examiner’s autopsy findings, however, reported that Randy Eisenbeis came to him naked and skinned, with his feet “separated from the ankles.”
What happened to Randy Eisenbeis may not be typical of how bodies are treated when they enter the tissue donation system. but as a worst-case scenario, his story provides a window onto a system that some say operates with inadequate regulatory scrutiny — and raises questions about how well the industry lives up to its own standards about the manner in which tissue banks obtain consent to take tissues from the recently departed.
Families often know little about what happens after they say, “Yes.” Ethics experts say many families in the U.S. and other countries assume that standard donor agreements apply only to hearts, lungs and internal organs. They don’t realize that in the brave new world of tissue harvesting, the dead’s bones, skin, tendons and heart valves can be cut out and used to create medical devices that can be sold for profit around the world.Lack of information
Tissue from about 30,000 cadavers in the United States is cleaned and milled into medical devices each year and some is exported around the world. U.S. companies also obtain tissue from places including Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Latvia.
In many countries, the law allows tissue harvesting unless a donor opts out before death. In the United States, federal law requires that tissue harvesters get families’ approval. How they do that is up to states to decide — and many states have few requirements or guidelines. People are often unaware just what they are giving away when they agree to become a donor. and families often don’t know that when they okay donations to nonprofit organizations such as the California Transplant Donor Network, the tissue routinely goes to for-profit companies, feeding a billion-dollar industry that uses those tissues for everything from repairing a knee to plumping up a penis.
Without uniform federal standards, it is mostly left up to tissue banks to decide how much information to share with donor families. few states require that companies tell families their loved ones’ tissue can be sold overseas, sent to a for-profit company or used in cosmetic procedures such as wrinkle-fillers and nose jobs.
“At present the industry thrives because of public ignorance and indifference regarding the for-profit involvement,” Robert Katz, a law professor from Indiana University wrote in 2006. “Most donors are either unaware of such involvement, or it does not trouble them enough to stop donating.”
In a 2010 study by researchers Laura Siminoff and Heather Traino, 70 percent of donor families said they’d object to a loved one’s tissue going to a for-profit business. Yet fewer than one in five said they’d been told that the harvested tissues could go to a for-profit company.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a new York Democrat, introduced legislation in 2007 that would have established mandatory requirements for what banks had to tell donor families, as well as try to limit the profits companies can make from the donation. but the bill died after heavy lobbying by the industry, Schumer said.
Industry representatives have declined to answer questions for this story.A legal gray area
Chris Truitt, a former industry insider, is among the advocates who are working to reform the system and force companies and nonprofits involved in the process to do a better job of informing the grieving about what will happen to remains of family members who’ve died. Truitt is the author of a book, “The dark side of Tissue Donation,” which exposes what he sees as abuses and profiteering within the donation system.
Chris TruittChris Truitt, donor father and former tissue bank worker. Photo: Narayan Mahon
He began working in the industry after living through a family tragedy.
His daughter, Alyssa, was born with a condition that causes fluid to build in the brain. When Alyssa died at age 2, the Truitts donated her organs and tissues. it soothed the pain to know their daughter’s death had helped others in need. He and his wife began promoting donation.
“I felt it was basically my calling in life,” Truitt said. “I ended up doing what I could to find a position working in the field.”
Truitt signed on with nonprofit tissue bank Allograft Resources of Wisconsin. “My job was to go out and do the procedures. to recover bones, skin, veins, heart valves,” he explained. “We’d take the long bones out, we’d take skin out, take the veins out, take the heart valves out.”
The tools were mostly those found in any operating room — scalpels, retractors, scissors, and clamps. Sometimes, though, Truitt and other recovery technicians also used metal wedges and mallets to break through the bone.
Still, they prided themselves on being “stewards of the gift.” Donors, he said, were treated with respect. once, an elderly woman whose husband had died thanked Truitt for his work. “She said that at his age in life, he and she both felt that they were completely useless, they had nothing left to give. but by being able to donate, it kind of showed that they still meant something, they were still worth something, they were still able to help somebody.”
But the bank’s record keeping was abysmal, making it impossible to track the tissue from donor to hospital buyer. In 2000 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter — a serious and uncommon reproach. That’s when RTI Biologics — which had until then bought all the bank’s tissue — took over responsibility for its operations.
Once RTI got more involved in daily operations, Truitt said, training was upgraded. Experts came in to show him and his coworkers how to recover tissue in the most efficient manner. “I don’t think they made it any more professional,” he said. “I think they made it more industrial.”
The industrial part of processing and distributing tissue is so different from the soft nonprofit face that donor families are often shocked. “The for-profit trade in body parts is a legal gray area,” said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance. “This affects the confidence of the public and the whole donation process.”
Truitt has nothing against for-profit companies being involved in the industry. He just wants families to be fully informed when the dead’s remains are used to make commercial products. “What I’m saying is that I want that choice. I want to be able to know what that means. and I don’t think that’s what families are getting.”
That can be a challenge, given differences in disclosure laws among states as well as families’ vulnerability during the time of grieving.
Some families don’t want all the details, and it’s up to the organization seeking the tissue to judge how much to disclose, according to Christina Strong, a lawyer for organ and tissue banks and an expert on donation regulations.
Some families, Strong said, might say, “This is freaking abuse. Look, I’m giving OK. That’s it.” Others might say, “Yes, take it,” but they want an open casket funeral, which means that they need to be aware of the kinds of tissues to be taken and how that will affect the person’s appearance and clothing selection.
Most tissue donation center requests analyzed in the 2010 study didn’t tell families that they could decide not to donate. and none told families they could change their minds after initially agreeing, according to the study published earlier this year in the Journal of Trauma, a medical journal.
Families often have even less information and fewer rights when it comes to harvesting tissue from the dead overseas. Express consent isn’t required, for example, when a company gets tissue from some former Soviet nations.
RTI’s trade-partner turned subsidiary, Tutogen Medical, has obtained tissue from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Latvia, where everyone is a donor unless they expressly opt out. the company also obtains tissue from Ukraine, where government morgues can recover tissue from the dead if they gain family consent.
Four of Tutogen’s Ukrainian suppliers have been investigated for allegedly taking tissue against the wishes of donors or their families. the first case was dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t prove the tissue hand been transplanted. the second was dismissed after the defendant died while a court deliberated his case. two recent investigations are still pending.
The income that can be made from recovery to distribution is anywhere from $80,000 to $200,000, according to industry experts and court testimony. there is a cost involved in recovering, processing and distributing the tissue.
Overseas and in the U.S., some companies that profit from human tissue spend considerable resources cultivating sources of fresh bodies.
Phillip Guyett, who worked as a ground-level body wrangler in California, North Carolina and Las Vegas before he was sent to prison for falsifying death records, said the demand for tissue grows more intense every year. One tissue buyer, Guyett said, summed up the all-out competition for corpses this way: “Whoever has the most bone wins.”A profit machine
A tissue bank performs a tissue recovery.A tissue bank performs a tissue recovery.
When RTI took over the Wisconsin tissue bank where Chris Truitt worked, he said employees were pushed to compete hard with other tissue banks for access to bodies — courting hospitals, funeral homes and morgues. “We would convince them when they came across a death to call us in for the tissue, rather than some other tissue bank,” Truitt said.
Once the tissue left the bank, it was sent to RTI, sterilized and milled into implants. “It is a medical device. It’s regulated as a medical device,” he said. “It’s no longer part of Uncle John. It’s product XYZ123.”
Skin from the Wisconsin bank was also sent to new Jersey-based LifeCell. Truitt says a representative of LifeCell initiated an award for the person who could recover the most tissue from a donor. He said the award was named the Golden Dermatome Award after the instrument designed to strip layers of skin off a donor’s back, thighs and arms.
LifeCell did not respond to questions about the award but said in a statement to ICIJ that the company “is committed to improving patients’ lives.”
“When they started giving out those rewards, it really sunk into me that instead of being stewards of the gift and treating each donor with the ultimate in respect, the company was actually looking at each donor as a profit machine, as nothing more than raw resources,” Truitt said. “And it was our job to take as much of those resources as we possibly could.”
He left the bank, disillusioned that any profits could be made from recycling human tissues from donors like his daughter. He even had his name removed from his state’s list of tissues donors, but remains an organ donor. He hasn’t given up hope.
“Saving lives, making lives better. That’s what it should be all about,” Truitt said. “I talk with a lot of recipients. I talk with a lot of donor families. and we all feel the same thing. It’s too important a thing, too incredible a thing to just stop. We have to fix it instead.”
Mandi Eisenbeis hopes that her family’s lawsuit, filed this spring in San Joaquin County (Calif.) Superior Court against the California Transplant Donor Network, will spur that kind of reform among recovery banks.
The case is still in its early stages; the family’s lawyers hope lawmakers will notice the case and call for changes in how they obtain consent and treat donor bodies.
Eisenbeis said the condition of her father in the coffin — and the photos she saw afterward that showed the full picture of the mutilation — roused her to take her complaints to the bank.
Three times, she said, she sent copies of the funeral director’s letter and pictures to the tissue bank. Three times the bank said it never received the mail. then, she said, it stopped picking up the phone at all.
It was only after getting the silent treatment, she said, that her family decided to file the lawsuit.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I felt the day I saw those pictures,” she said. “For me, I just wanted things to change, and when I saw those pictures I knew that I had to do everything I could to get someone to stand up and listen to me.”
This story was co-reported by National Public Radio (USA).Contributors to this story: Vlad Lavrov, Martina Keller and Thomas Maier
About this project:
Skin and Bone: the shadowy Trade In Human Body Parts is an eight-month project by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a global network of reporters who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories that cross national boundaries
ICIJ found the business of recycling dead humans has grown so large over the past decade that you can buy stock in publicly traded companies that rely on corpses for their raw materials.
Skin and bones donated by relatives of the dead are turned into everything from bladder slings to surgical screws to material used in dentistry or plastic surgery.
Distributors of the merchandise can be found in much of the world. Some are subsidiaries of billion-dollar multinational medical corporations.
ICIJ discovered that patients aren’t always told that the product they are getting originated from a corpse. this led to a more complex issue – how does the industry source the raw material it uses in its products?
The ICIJ’s investigation relied on more than 200 interviews with industry insiders, government officials, surgeons, lawyers, ethicists and convicted felons, as well as thousands of court documents, regulatory reports, criminal investigation findings, corporate records and internal company memos.
ICIJ also conducted analysis on registered tissue banks, imports, inspections, adverse events, and deviation reports filed with the Food and Drug Administration, the US agency that polices the trade. ICIJ obtained the data through records requests to the FDA.
Palantir donated the use of software and assisted reporters in analyzing and visualizing data, as well as provided interactive and still graphics for ICIJ and partner publications.
The project was unveiled at the Google Ideas INFO Summit.
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This is the fourth installment of a four-part series.
