Man Charged With Selling Body Parts Gets Probation
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 5:41 pm
Man Charged With Selling Body Parts Gets Probation
POSTED: 6:46 a.m. EDT June 25, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A former executive at a company that collects donated organs was sentenced to five years' probation after pleading no contest to charges he sold human body parts.
Senior Judge George Pierce on Tuesday also ordered Dr. Jose Cardo to pay $146,150 in restitution, the amount the prosecution said he owed to Shands HealthCare for the unauthorized sale of dozens of organs, including kidneys and livers.
State Attorney Bill Cervone said the plea agreement amounted to employee theft.
Cardo, 43, was the director of organ recovery at LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services last year when an audit discovered he had been selling organs that belonged to Shands without the agency's approval, prosecutors said.
LifeQuest is a Shands-based program that acquires and coordinates placement of donated organs for patients.
The audit showed that Cardo apparently directed organs to his own company, Florida Research Foundation, which Shands officials called a clear conflict of interest.
"What he was doing, in my estimate, was taking organs of no value or marginal research quality that should have been disposed of, and that Shands assumed were disposed of, and taking them through his corporation into whatever he did with them to dispose of them with other entities," Cervone said.
Cardo and another LifeQuest official, executive director Charles McCluskey, were fired last year after they were linked to the case. No charges were filed against McCluskey.
Kevin Jurecko, Cardo's attorney, said his client's legal troubles were based on a clerical mistake. He said Cardo should have filed as not-for-profit instead of filing as for-profit.
State law prohibits the sale of organs for profit.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
POSTED: 6:46 a.m. EDT June 25, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A former executive at a company that collects donated organs was sentenced to five years' probation after pleading no contest to charges he sold human body parts.
Senior Judge George Pierce on Tuesday also ordered Dr. Jose Cardo to pay $146,150 in restitution, the amount the prosecution said he owed to Shands HealthCare for the unauthorized sale of dozens of organs, including kidneys and livers.
State Attorney Bill Cervone said the plea agreement amounted to employee theft.
Cardo, 43, was the director of organ recovery at LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services last year when an audit discovered he had been selling organs that belonged to Shands without the agency's approval, prosecutors said.
LifeQuest is a Shands-based program that acquires and coordinates placement of donated organs for patients.
The audit showed that Cardo apparently directed organs to his own company, Florida Research Foundation, which Shands officials called a clear conflict of interest.
"What he was doing, in my estimate, was taking organs of no value or marginal research quality that should have been disposed of, and that Shands assumed were disposed of, and taking them through his corporation into whatever he did with them to dispose of them with other entities," Cervone said.
Cardo and another LifeQuest official, executive director Charles McCluskey, were fired last year after they were linked to the case. No charges were filed against McCluskey.
Kevin Jurecko, Cardo's attorney, said his client's legal troubles were based on a clerical mistake. He said Cardo should have filed as not-for-profit instead of filing as for-profit.
State law prohibits the sale of organs for profit.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
~K