Family of man who died after surgery suing Kennesaw company

ATLANTA - The family of a Minnesota man who died after a knee graft is suing the Georgia company that provided the tissue, claiming it came from a rotten, infected cadaver. <br> <br> Surgeons planted the cartilage into the knee of 23-year-old Brian Lykins on November seventh, 2001, and he died four days later. Health investigators found a deadly bacterium in his body and in the cadaver from which the cartilage was lifted. <br> <br> Lykins&#39; family filed suit today against tissue bank CryoLife Incorporated of Kennesaw. The suit seeks damages that were unspecified in court filings but that family attorneys said could run up to $50 million. <br> <br> The suit claims CryoLife left the cadaver unrefrigerated for 19 hours -- well beyond safe levels -- and failed to test the tissue for the dangerous bacterium, Clostridium sordellii. <br> <br> CryoLife spokesman Roy Vogeltanz says the company would not comment on a pending lawsuit. <br> <br> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in March that at least 14 people had contracted bacterial infections after receiving tissue transplants from CryoLife. Lykins was the only such patient who died. <br> <br> Health officials determined he died from septic shock that was traced to the infected tissue, said Buddy Ferguson, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health.