More Details in Alistair Cooke Death

This is an undated file photo issued by the British Broadcasting Corp., of Alistair Cooke, the longtime host of "Masterpiece Theatre" on U.S. television and known around the world for his "Letter from America" shows on the BBC, who died from cancer in 2004 at age 95 in New York. The medical records that accompanied the body of Cooke were wrong in just about every possible way. The medical records provide the most in-depth look so far into the case of the famed TV personality, and raise more questions about the safety of the cadaver tissue industry. (AP Photo/BBC/ho) (Bbc - AP)

NEW YORK -- After "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke died, errors in the medical records accompanying his body fell through the cracks, one by one.

His name was misspelled. His birthdate was off by 10 years. His Social Security number wasn't even close. The name of his doctor, contact information for a relative, the time and cause of his death: all wrong.

None of that prevented the removal and sale of the 95-year-old's arms and legs. The fate of his pelvis and other tissue remains a mystery.

The medical records, obtained by The Associated Press, provide the most in-depth look so far into the case of the famed TV personality, and raise more questions about the safety of the cadaver tissue industry: Why didn't the tissue processor that acquired Cooke's body parts catch any of the bogus entries?

For Susan Cooke Kittredge, the celebrity's daughter, the deception destroyed her trust.

"It's deeply disturbing," she said. "It throws out any kind of faith I had in the system. It's so broken. It's horrible to me that this wasn't caught."

Where Kittredge's name might have appeared on the records, there is instead a bogus name and phone number for a family member who supposedly agreed to donate her father's body parts for tissue transplants.

Donated cadaver tissue is used in more than a million procedures a year in the United States to repair bad backs, fix ailing knees and replace heart valves. Most of these operations are safe and do tremendous good, but tissue that has not been treated properly or is taken from unscreened donors can infect a patient with hepatitis, HIV and other potentially deadly infections.

Tissue processor Regeneration Technologies Inc. of Alachua, Fla., declined to discuss Cooke's medical records but has said the company did nothing wrong.

The company says it relies on the suppliers of cadaver tissue to "perform a risk assessment on every potential donor, interview family members and evaluate the donor's medical records."

In this case, Regeneration and four other processors put their faith in Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., which was shut down earlier this year and is at the center of a national scandal involving the theft of cadaver tissue. Michael Mastromarino, former chief executive of Biomedical Tissue Services, helped prepare the records for Cooke and others whose bodies were sent to be processed.

The Food and Drug Administration says companies like Regeneration are responsible for ensuring their business partners comply with federal guidelines.