UK patient received "contaminated" body part

A patient has received a possibly contaminated human body part stolen in the United States, a hospital confirmed today.

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire said it was contacting the patient, who is believed to have received the part in a bone graft operation.

The hospital announced the news after clarifying the situation with the British company involved in the supply chain of parts from the US.

A statement from the hospital said: “Following further clarification from the company and a further check, we have now established we did receive items from the affected batch numbers.

“Our records show that one item has been implanted in a patient. We are in the process of contacting the patient to give them full details and to reassure them that there is a negligible clinical risk.”

Yesterday, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) named 25 UK hospitals where possibly contaminated human body parts stolen in America were grafted on to British patients.

The body of veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke was one of more than a thousand allegedly plundered by a corpse-snatching ring in New York, which then sold bones, ligaments and skin for use in transplants.