February 25, 2006 
Victor funeral home says it did no wrong. Facility properly offered tissue donation program, owner asserts

Steve Orr
Staff writer 
The owner of a Victor funeral home acknowledged Friday that his home had taken 
part in a tissue donation program offered by an embattled New Jersey tissue bank 
— but said everything was done properly and legally on his end. 

Jeff Jarmusz of Jarmusz Cotton Funeral Home said he agreed early last summer to 
offer a tissue donation program run by Biomedical Tissue Services, the New 
Jersey firm that harvested bone, skin and other tissue for use in medical 
procedures. 
Five families took part during the two months he offered the program, and all of 
them consented in writing to donate tissue from their loved ones' bodies, 
Jarmusz said. 
"We did not do anything improper. We have all the necessary paperwork signed by 
the next of kin," he said. "A lot of the families were really happy they could 
help." 
Four men associated with Biomedical's New York City operation, including company 
founder Michael Mastromarino, were indicted in Brooklyn on Thursday. They are 
accused of harvesting tissue from cadavers without legal consent and without 
proper screening for medical conditions that would make the tissue unsuitable 
for transplantation. Those allegations related to activity in New York City, 
most of it in a single Brooklyn funeral home owned by one of the men who was 
charged. 
The Kings County District Attorney's Office said it was continuing to 
investigate Biomedical's operations in Rochester and several other cities.

Jarmusz, who said he was interviewed by that DA's Office and turned over records 
of the donations, believes he is considered a witness, not a suspect. He also 
fears that funeral homes in the Rochester area that offered Biomedical's 
donation program could be unfairly blamed for the tissue company's alleged 
misdeeds in New York City. 
"It wasn't here locally that anybody did anything wrong. It was down there," he 
said.

Jarmusz said he, like other local funeral directors, was approached by 
Mastromarino last year. After verifying that the company was licensed by both 
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the state Department of Health, he 
agreed to offer the donation option to customers. Jarmusz said this amounted to 
giving a brochure about the program to family members who expressed an interest 
in donation. 
If they agreed to donate, he would have them sign a consent form and then notify 
Biomedical. The company's team would harvest tissue in the funeral home's prep 
room, spending four to six hours at the task, he said. It appeared to be done in 
a proper and sterile manner, he said. 
Jarmusz said he was paid $1,000 per cadaver for the use of his facilities.

His story is much the same as the one told by Scott Batjer, funeral director at 
Profetta Funeral Chapel, which also took part in the program. 
An official in the Kings County DA's Office said Thursday that most of 
Biomedical's local work was done at Profetta and Burger Funeral Home, though he 
said other homes in the area were involved. 
Asked why authorities were looking into the company's Rochester-area activities, 
Jarmusz speculated that there could be inconsistencies between his records and 
those kept by Biomedical. Allegations have been made that the company falsified 
medical records and death certificates in the New York City area to make a donor 
appear to be a suitable candidate. Tissue banks are supposed to reject material 
from persons who don't meet specific age, health and lifestyle criteria. 
He said Biomedical was responsible for all the medical background checks.

"I figured, since they were licensed through New York state and they were 
licensed and certified through the FDA, that they knew what they were doing," he 
said. 
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