Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Profit began before the grave in Frankenstein case

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home

Thanatology Forums

Taphophile Weblinks

Taph's Article Archive

Contact Deadgirl

Donating to Taphophilia

Book Library

Deadgirl Recommends

Dig Deeper

Literature

Topics at Taphophilia

Deadgirl's Dictionary

Cemetery Photography

Industry News

Carved in Stone

A Taphophilia Thank You...

Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From
its conception and early development, DarkestWeb
was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Cemetery Snapshot

Announcements

Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!

Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Profit began before the grave in Frankenstein case

Written by DeadGirl
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
June 12, 2006 BY TOM HAYS NEW YORK -- As a seasoned ''cutter,'' Lee Cruceta thought he knew when it was safe to harvest human tissue from the dead for transplants to the living -- and when it wasn't. This time, it wasn't. The man's body stretched out in front of Cruceta in the back room of a Manhattan funeral home had yellow skin -- a sign of jaundice. Cruceta telephoned his boss, Michael Mastromarino, to tell him the bad news: The body had failed inspection. ''We always went by the rule that if you come across a body and you say to yourself, 'I don't want any part of that person in my body,' you rule the case out,'' Cruceta said. But Mastromarino, by Cruceta's account, surprised him. Stay put, he said. The boss came down and declared that ''everything looked fine.'' ''I was overruled,'' Cruceta said. Out came the surgical tools. The extraction of flesh and bone began. This is, again, Cruceta's account. He, like Mastromarino, faces criminal charges in a scandal so grotesque that it reads like a real-life sequel to ''Frankenstein.'' It was Mastromarino who built a business that took from the dead and gave to the living. There are many legitimate businesses that do this, but authorities say Mastromarino's company was not one of them. Authorities say Biomedical Tissue Services secretly carved up hundreds of cadavers -- among them, that of the host of ''Masterpiece Theatre,'' Alistair Cooke -- without the families of the deceased knowing about it. They then peddled the pieces on the lucrative body parts market. Even scarier: They say BTS doctored paperwork to hide the fact that some of the dead were too old and diseased to be donors. As a result, they say, the market was flooded with potentially tainted tissue, and patients across the country may have received infections along with their dental implants and hip replacements. Blames funeral home directors Michael Mastromarino was a New Jersey businessman with a flair for innovation. His lawyer said Mastromarino was among the first to figure out that one way to meet the high demand for donated human tissue -- traditionally procured in the controlled environment of hospitals -- was to turn to funeral homes. Deals were cut with funeral directors in New York City, Rochester, N.Y., Philadelphia and New Jersey: BTS would pay a $1,000 ''facility fee'' to harvest body parts on their premises. But family members have told investigators no one sought permission for body-part donations. Signatures at the bottom of consent forms, they said, were forged. Mastromarino, through his lawyer, has blamed funeral home directors, insisting it was their job to get consent. The directors say it was the other way around. In 2004, New York City Police Department Detective Patricia O'Brien responded to a complaint from a funeral director in Brooklyn. The director claimed the parlor's previous owner had stolen down payments for funerals. But once inside the funeral parlor, she sensed something worse. Steel table, lights tip her off The detective was surprised to find an embalming room that looked more like an operating room, with a steel table and bright overhead lights. When she reviewed old files, she found the names of biomedical companies. She later Googled the names and learned each was involved in tissue transplants. O'Brien had gone into the investigation thinking she was dealing with ''a financial situation,'' she said. ''I had no idea.'' The NYPD widened the investigation, interviewing the relatives of 1,077 dead people whose bodies were harvested for body parts. Only one said permission was given. The case, said the prosecutor, is like a ''cheap horror movie.'' Authorities released photos of exhumed corpses that were boned below the waist like a freshly caught fish. The defendants, they alleged, had made a crude attempt to cover their tracks by sewing PVC pipe back into the bodies in time for open-casket wakes. Cruceta is free on $500,000 bond. Mastromarino remains free on $1.5 million bail. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-flesh12.html

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

SEO by Artio

Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries