At least 14 transplant patients in Maine were given human tissue stolen from dead bodies in funeral homes across the Northeast, WMTW News in Portland reported.

Prosecutors in New York filed charges this week against four people allegedly involved in the scam, but the long-term effect for patients with the stolen tissue has yet to be determined.

WMTW News reported at least three Maine hospitals all discovered patients with stolen bone filler, a product made from human bones primarily used in neuro and orthopedic surgery.

Maine Medical Center, in Portland; Central Maine Medical Center, in Lewiston; and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, in Lewiston, all found the tissue.

"We have product recalls in hospitals on a regular basis, but this one -- given the nature of it -- we respond to all of them rapidly, but this one we did a tremendous rigor on," said Mary-Anne Ponti, vice-president of nursing at St. Mary's.

The day the recall came out in October 2005, St. Mary's removed unused "bone filler" from its shelves and pinpointed six patients with the substance in their bodies.

"Well, you can imagine the reaction, from anger, to fear," Ponti said. "It really hit a broad spectrum of reaction."

Hospital officials said the patients have since undergone tests to ensure that the tissue was free of diseases.

WMTW News reported that similar courses of action were taken at both Central Maine and Maine Medical Centers.

Both hospitals did not want to be interviewed, but issued written statements.

Randall Dustin, with Central Maine Medical Center, which discovered five affected patients, said, "All products affected by this recall were immediately removed from the hospital's inventory and returned to the manufacturer. The manufacturer also notified the orthopedic surgeons. We have been in contact with the orthopedic surgeons and they are following up with their patients, which is the correct procedure."

Three patients who received transplants at Maine Medical Center were given letters, WMTW reported.

"Those letters were sent to their physicians so that the physicians could meet with them, explain those letters and what should happen next," Martha Davoli, of Maine Medical, said in a statement.

Ponti said other patients who have undergone surgery at St. Mary's don't need to worry.

"We had six patients. They've all been identified and contacted," Ponti said. "There are no other patients who received the product. We have very tight internal control mechanisms and we are 100 percent confident we have identified everyone."

WMTW News reported there are about 300 companies in the United States that harvest human bones to make the bone filler.

The company that buys the product from those and sells it to St. Mary's is called RTI.

Ponti told WMTW News she won't change suppliers because RTI did double the amount of testing required by the U.S. government and she's sure her patients are safe.