A real-life Frankenstein uncovered

You know I always tend to view advancements in conventional medical technology (read: surgery and drugs) from a dual perspective: Their potential for benefiting the human species AND their potential for abuse by that same animal…

And often as not, history proves that not enough of the one thing happens (the benefits part) - yet quite an unexpected amount of the other often does. A few examples:

Breast augmentation surgery got its start as an aid to women whose breasts had been damaged or changed by tumor surgery. They were literally conceived by the medical establishment not as falsies, but as prostheses to help restore women to their former self-esteem after the ravages of cancer. But now boob jobs are the third most common purely cosmetic surgery procedure in the United States - and they're routinely employed for sex change operations, too!

ADHD drugs are another example. These poisons used to be prescribed only in the most extreme and unmistakable cases of childhood hyperactivity disorders (maladies that barely exist at one hundredth the rate the medical establishment would claim, by the way). But now they're doled out by parents and school nurses that are too lazy to interact with children on an appropriate level, breeding generations of needlessly addicted, self-loathing slacker basket cases.

Oh, and these drugs are also all the rage on the black market, too - both for their mind-altering effects and for their stimulatory aspects during those all-night college study sessions (Daily Dose, 1/14/05).

One more example: The sex selection of unborn babies - either by genetic screening of embryos or by selective abortion. In India, where male children are more desirable than females, some areas have already skewed their sex ratios by as much as 15% (Daily Doses, 7/3/2006 and 4/25/2006).

This unfortunate reality - the natural condition of humankind to gravitate toward the most base and selfish application of even the most nobly conceived medical technologies - is the foundation of my skepticism about certain "advancements" in medicine. Despite the benefits of these things, the possibility for abuse is too great…

Which brings me to the main thrust of this two-part essay series: An abuse of medical technology more shocking, gruesome and horrifying than just about anything since the Holocaust. And it happened right here in the good ol' USA.

According to a disturbing recent Associated Press expose`, a New York dentist-turned-body-parts-broker - and his right-hand "cutter" - are facing up to 25 years in the clink for harvesting skin, bones, teeth, tendons, valves and other non-organ parts from cadavers scavenged from funeral homes that didn't meet Federal (or even common-sense) standards for cleanliness, age, suitability, or the presence of disease.

He's also being tried on charges of falsification of licensing applications, hundreds of cases of forged signatures on donor permission and family consent documents - and faces allegations and possible charges of sterilization and sanitation violations. Oh, and improper disposal of hazardous tissues, like those infected with syphilis or HIV.

This monster is also facing lawsuits (and likely criminal charges, too) from families whose living - or now DEAD in some cases - recipients of these tissues contracted hepatitis or other diseases. Regardless of all this, he's free on bail despite being formally charged with body theft, grand larceny, forgery, and other counts…

Think he'll stick around for trial? Yeah, right.

And here's the most twisted part: All of it happened because of the government's apparently woefully lax approval and review process for such tissue banks. According to the AP report, this ghoul had been embroiled in a drug abuse scandal and other offenses that banned him from practicing dentistry! Yet he was still approved for a license to harvest bodily tissues in the state of New York.

Get all the outrageous and shocking details, plus the unbelievably egregious allegations the investigation has turned up so far, in the next Daily Dose. Seriously, you just won't believe it all could actually happen…