Routine knee surgery for 23 YO, now he's dead

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Tissue harvested came from "donor not refrigerated till 19hrs after death"

Bacterial infection found in 25 surgery cases

The bacterial infection that killed a young Minnesota man following a routine knee surgery was also found in 25 other cases. A study said a single tissue-processing company was involved in 14 of the cases, including the fatal one.

Reuters Health/Yahoo!, March 15, 2002

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&u=/nm/20020315/hl_nm/bacteria_infection_1

Who doesn't refrigerate a body for 19 hrs and then takes tissue for organ donation.... is this routine? OR nurses can you shed some light re organ and tissue donations and time body allowed to remain on unit prior to procurement??? Karen