Doheny Eye Tissue Transplant Bank

The Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank is conducting an extensive review to determine whether any of the hundreds of corneas it recovered without family permission from the Los Angeles County coroner's office were unfit for transplant.

A Superior Court jury ruled Thursday that the county coroner and the Doheny Eye and Tissue Bank followed the law when they took a 17-year-old suicide victim's corneas without asking his parents. But even as the verdicts were being recorded in the closely watched case, jurors issued a rare statement asking officials to change their cornea harvesting practices to be more sensitive to relatives of the dead. The family of Richard Baltierra Jr.

The Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank is conducting an extensive review to determine whether any of the hundreds of corneas it recovered without family permission from the Los Angeles County coroner's office were unfit for transplant.

The lawyer for the father of a teenage suicide victim urged a Los Angeles Superior Court jury to award $1 million in damages because the county coroner's office and a private tissue bank took the dead boy's corneas despite his father's objection. Attorney Joel Warren told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday that the coroner's office and the Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank were "driven by the almighty dollar" to take corneas from the dead without asking permission from relatives.

The number of corneas harvested from bodies at the Los Angeles County coroner's office dropped nearly 70% last month under a new policy that requires death investigators to contact family members for permission before removing the eye tissue, statistics released Tuesday show.

Is the Los Angeles County coroner's office taking undue advantage of a state law that allows it to remove eye tissue from autopsy subjects without seeking permission from their families? Ask Yolanda Aguirre of El Monte or Frank Casias of Canoga Park. Each lost a grown child but did not know that the coroner had removed the corneas until they were contacted by The Times. They say that given the choice they would have refused.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office, responding to reports of ethical breaches and procedural lapses, announced Monday that it will no longer routinely permit a local eye bank to harvest corneas without the permission or knowledge of surviving family members. "The department as a whole will now take a proactive approach in making contact with families, to ensure that they're aware of any corneal removals," said Coroner Director Anthony T. Hernandez. "Basically, that's the bottom line."

The lawyer for the father of a teenage suicide victim urged a Los Angeles Superior Court jury to award $1 million in damages because the county coroner's office and a private tissue bank took the dead boy's corneas despite his father's objection. Attorney Joel Warren told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday that the coroner's office and the Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank were "driven by the almighty dollar" to take corneas from the dead without asking permission from relatives.

A renowned eye bank has paid more than $1 million during the last five years to the Los Angeles County coroner's office in exchange for thousands of corneas, harvested without the permission or knowledge of the families of the dead. Although the practice is permitted under a little-known state law, officials of the coroner's office and Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank have used the statute so extensively that critics say the morgue has become a virtual cornea mill.

Richard Baltierra sought solace in the family photographs after his only son and namesake took his life with a shotgun two years ago. He would look into the shining brown eyes of the boy he had taken bowling and fishing and ask, "What was going through your mind?" But when Baltierra picked up the report of the autopsy two weeks after the death, he noticed a mysterious notation--"Corneas CGC24791.47."

Richard Baltierra sought solace in the family photographs after his only son and namesake took his life with a shotgun two years ago. He would look into the shining brown eyes of the boy he had taken bowling and fishing and ask, "What was going through your mind?" But when Baltierra picked up the report of the autopsy two weeks after the death, he noticed a mysterious notation--"Corneas CGC24791.47."

The Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank is conducting an extensive review to determine whether any of the hundreds of corneas it recovered without family permission from the Los Angeles County coroner's office were unfit for transplant.

The Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank is conducting an extensive review to determine whether any of the hundreds of corneas it recovered without family permission from the Los Angeles County coroner's office were unfit for transplant.

The number of corneas harvested from bodies at the Los Angeles County coroner's office dropped nearly 70% last month under a new policy that requires death investigators to contact family members for permission before removing the eye tissue, statistics released Tuesday show.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office, responding to reports of ethical breaches and procedural lapses, announced Monday that it will no longer routinely permit a local eye bank to harvest corneas without the permission or knowledge of surviving family members. "The department as a whole will now take a proactive approach in making contact with families, to ensure that they're aware of any corneal removals," said Coroner Director Anthony T. Hernandez. "Basically, that's the bottom line."

Is the Los Angeles County coroner's office taking undue advantage of a state law that allows it to remove eye tissue from autopsy subjects without seeking permission from their families? Ask Yolanda Aguirre of El Monte or Frank Casias of Canoga Park. Each lost a grown child but did not know that the coroner had removed the corneas until they were contacted by The Times. They say that given the choice they would have refused.

A Superior Court jury ruled Thursday that the county coroner and the Doheny Eye and Tissue Bank followed the law when they took a 17-year-old suicide victim's corneas without asking his parents. But even as the verdicts were being recorded in the closely watched case, jurors issued a rare statement asking officials to change their cornea harvesting practices to be more sensitive to relatives of the dead. The family of Richard Baltierra Jr.

A renowned eye bank has paid more than $1 million during the last five years to the Los Angeles County coroner's office in exchange for thousands of corneas, harvested without the permission or knowledge of the families of the dead. Although the practice is permitted under a little-known state law, officials of the coroner's office and Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank have used the statute so extensively that critics say the morgue has become a virtual cornea mill.