PENNY BROWN ROBERTS (The Advocate, 03/30/2006)

Two more south Louisianians are suing a company accused of looting diseased corpses for tissue and selling it to area hospitals for transplants.

Deridre Caruthers of Denham Springs and Deborah D. Brunet of Prairieville have filed lawsuits in recent days in Baton Rouge federal court.

Caruthers had a multiple level cervical fusion in June 2004 that included a permanent transplant of the "improperly obtained" tissue in her neck, according to the lawsuit.

Brunet claims she had a lower back disc fusion in December 2004 that also resulted in the transplant of the tissue.

That brings to three the number of area residents who have come forward to claim they are victims of a New York medical supply company that sold illegal - and unscreened - tissue and bone to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and other hospitals in the state.

Darrel Bourque of Gonzales filed a class-action lawsuit earlier this month.

Biomedical Tissue Services owners Michael Mastromarino and Joseph Nicelli and others are accused of secretly carving up bodies from funeral parlors and city morgues in three states and forging death certificates and organ-donor consent forms to make it appear as if the bones, skin, tendons, heart valves and other tissues were removed legally.

Some of the corpses were those of people who had not given consent; others didn't meet federal donor eligibility requirements because they were infected with syphilis, AIDS or hepatitis or had cancer or heart disease.

Among the cadavers allegedly raided for parts was that of former PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cook, who died of cancer in 2004 at age 95.

The Baton Rouge lawsuits estimate the defective tissue has been implanted in hundreds of Louisiana patients since 2002.

The cases have been put on hold until the federal court system makes a decision on whether to consolidate all the lawsuits nationwide and transfer them to New Jersey. A decision is expected in May or June.

Baton Rouge lawyer Philip Bohrer filed all three Louisiana lawsuits and said Wednesday he's been contacted by people in Louisiana and other states who want to sue the company as well.