Stolen bones implanted in British patients

LONDON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Patients of the British National Health Service have reportedly been implanted with possibly contaminated bone from a batch stolen from the United States.

The flaw involved more than 70 pieces of bone from a New Jersey company now under investigation, that may have been grafted into patients at numerous British hospitals, the Sunday Time of London reported.

The bones were harvested from corpses at funeral parlors in the United States without prior consent from the deceased and without proper tests to make sure the bodies were not contaminated, the newspaper said.

Although many of the affected bone products that came into Britain were recalled after a safety alert, it was too late to retrieve 77 implants that were already grafted on to the hips and jaws of British patients.

Among the bodies desecrated was that of Alistair Cooke, whose "Letter from America" series ran on BBC radio for 58 years.