what is this world coming to???

i read this on the ap website. how disturbing.


Nurse admits stealing body parts of dead

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press WriterWed Jan 30, 10:18 PM ET

A nurse admitted Wednesday he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped forge paperwork so the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in unsuspecting patients.
Authorities say nurse Lee Cruceta was the lead cutter in a group that trafficked in more than 1,000 stolen body parts for the lucrative transplant market.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, taking part in a corrupt organization, abuse of a corpse and 244 counts each of theft and forgery. Cruceta, 35, also has pleaded guilty to related charges in New York and negotiated pleas to serve concurrent sentences of 6 1/2 to 20 years.
He is expected to testify against the other defendants, and won't be formally sentenced until those cases are resolved.
Several funeral directors have pleaded guilty in New York, and the accused ringleader Michael Mastromarino, 44, is being held in the case. Three funeral directors in Philadelphia have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Assistant Philadelphia District Attorney Bruce Sagel told a judge that Mastromarino also is expected to plead guilty. The timing of his plea was uncertain.
His lawyer, Mario Gallucci, earlier told The Associated Press that Mastromarino plans to tell prosecutors about the companies that bought the stolen specimens.
Mastromarino, a former oral surgeon, paid funeral directors $1,000 per corpse, then sold the parts to tissue banks, Sagel said. The body parts fetched up to $10,000 apiece, though the tissue banks resold them to hospitals for many times that amount, he said.
Prosecutors believe Mastromarino, employing several teams of cutters, took in $6 million to $12 million since 2001.
"I think the concern is Lee Cruceta has been placed, in some ways, on an even footing with Mr. Mastromarino, who has millions of dollars," defense lawyer Mary Maran said.
Cruceta, speaking after the hearing, said he was already earning more than $100,000 a year working two jobs when he signed on with Mastromarino, thinking his Biomedical Tissue Services was a legitimate company. Asked when he realized things were amiss, he declined to comment.
"We were a normal family. We had a normal life," said his wife, Theresa Cruceta, standing with their three young children. "We lost everything."
She had lost her hospital administration job in New York City in the economic downturn that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks, she said. Cruceta previously worked as a surgical nurse manager and at a tissue bank, but said he thought he could ultimately earn more working for Mastromarino.
The body parts were used in disk replacements, knee operations, dental implants and other surgical procedures performed by unsuspecting doctors across the United States and in Canada. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by Biomedical Tissue Services.
Among the bodies looted was that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004. Cooke's daughter and relatives of the other deceased people say they never authorized any donations.
A grand jury in Philadelphia found that the body-parts ring forged death certificates to hide diseases such as cancer and AIDS and lower the ages of the deceased to make the stolen specimens more desirable.
A flood of civil lawsuits are expected on behalf of the transplant recipients.

lost in time

some things are just lost in time. snatches here and there. but lost.
and time comes in a box. its up to you to how big the box is.

its been a long day

long day.
i let the kids play hookey today. we were all feeling the lazy bug. matt is feeling under the weather. i was just lazy.
i was feeling the need to post, but not knowing what to post.
so ramble i will.
i'm in a music mood. so i'm playing music. fergie is playing now.
charlie will be home tomorrow afternoon!!
and then i work all weekend. kind of looking forward to work. i like my job. keeps me occupied.
i was sick last week. this week my other 3rd shift coworker is sick. if my hubby wasnt out of town i would have worked. could use the hours. and the distraction.

wow

oh man!

i've been sick. have i mentioned that? since about saturday, although it kicked in good about monday. been down for the count ever since. the flu, i think. i was able to get out of the house today and ride around with my sister while she did errands. that was a hoot. was doing good with our little trip until the end. sigh.
we're in hampstead stopping at the exxon on the corner of 210 and 17. i get to the counter with my drink, sonia is behind me somewhere. this other lady calls attention to a man on the floor by the drink fridge...he's having a seizure. sonia is a nurse. an ICU nurse. i'm thinking, 'great, we shouldve gone to the hesswilco'. but oh no. sonia doesnt want to deal with turning left. so she gets seizure guy instead. but all in all i was glad she was there so the guy didnt choke or hurt himself. there was another lady there that just kept telling the guy, 'calm down' . like thats gonna get thru. but i told sonia, she didnt know cause she's just a civilian.
and i got to keep the guys head off the cement floor so he didnt hurt his head. used some people skills.
sonia kept saying after we left, 'i vowed to never use my skills in public' and i told her 'if we had only gone to the hess wilco.... but oh no, you didnt wanna turn left'

still not tired. oh yeah. about that. you'd think that with me being sick i'd sleep for hours on end. no. i cant fall asleep for nuthin. and when i do the longest i've been able to stay asleep is almost 4 hours. AND thats with sleeping pills, benadryl, nyquil...4 hours. otherwise i get 30 minutes here, 10 minutes there. argh. its like, ok, recharge. bugger.

goober-itis

i live at the end of a dead end road. school buses dont come down this road, but they will pick your kids up at the beginning of the road. no big deal.
my son had a project due so i was going to take him to school so his project didnt get messed up on the bus. so i leave him at the house to take my daughter to the bus. its raining and i dont want to see matt's bus because i'll have to roll down the window and wave the bus on. so i take forever to get to the end of the road...kiera's bus comes after matt's. in the process of trying to miss matt's bus, we miss kiera's bus and i have to take her to school. then turn around come back get matt and take him. argh.

2 scoops

2 scoops of raisins....how big are those scoops? who is the authority on the scoop?

the beach in January

i had the bright idea today to go to the beach when the kids got home from school. just so the kids could play in the sand, collect some shells, etc. Not play in the water. no.

its 70 degrees when i leave my house. dumbass that i am i forget it feels nearly 20 degrees cooler by the ocean. its wasnt too bad. we probably stayed about 30-45 minutes. but i got some good pictures. cause it was gorgeous out there.

I once lived in the land of fairies. But they caught me smoking weed, made me big and then kicked me out.
I met the leprechauns and they took me in. But, I got caught bonking the leader and they voted me out of their ‘little’ club.
The trolls thought me too pleasant and just sent me on my way.
So now I’m stuck in human land. These people are crazy!

isnt it amazing how predictable some people can be?

do you ever find yourself too lonely for yourself?
sometimes i dont do well with the 'alone' thing. sometimes i dont really like it.
sometimes its ok...peaceful...sometimes its too peaceful...it all folds in on itself. like implosion.

what the hell

someone please tell me what freakin stage my 7 year old girl child is going thru? i'm ready to take up spanking. i'm calling it her 'death wish' stage cause clearly the little girl child has a death wish to continue on her current path of destruction. her chosen path being back talking, rudeness, being mean...etc....i'm sure the picture is becoming clear.
for the last couple of days or so her attitude is atrocious. the awful attitude exuding from her is enough to make me want to knock her into next week.
this morning...she is told to get up, get dressed and get ready for school. after being told a couple more times and being threatened with a cold wet washcloth she finally gets up. and this is what she yells as she comes stomping down the hall, "i'm up ...are you happy now??" and says it with such attitude. not a good attitude either...
part of me thinks, 'where did we go wrong?' but i know we havent.
someone pleazzzzzzzzzzz tell me its a phase she will outgrow...soon. becuase if this is a prelude to her teenage years...god help us all. because if this last much longer i'm going to have to up my meds.

arctic

its 17 damn degrees outside!!!! farenheit!! brrrrr
new girl is training and will start 14 jan. then i'll have my 3 days back!!