For five years, the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth received unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties. These bodies were assessed for their suitability for medical research, with those that tested positive for infectious diseases or were decomposing being cremated. The remaining bodies were embalmed, stored in freezers, or used to train future medical professionals.
Over 830 bodies out of approximately 2,350 since 2019 were used for research purposes, including being leased out to medical schools, the U.S. Army, and medical technology companies. While proponents argue that using unclaimed bodies for research saves money on burial costs and advances medicine, a recent NBC News investigation revealed that at least a dozen families were not informed about what happened to their missing relatives.
As a result of the investigation, the Health Science Center stopped using unclaimed bodies, fired officials involved in the body donation program, and apologized to affected families. Since then, nine more families have come forward to reveal that their relatives’ bodies were also used without consent.
NBC News has published a database of over 1,800 names of individuals whose bodies were donated to the Health Science Center by the two counties. This information was obtained through open records requests from the county medical examiners in an effort to help families find answers about the fate of their loved ones.
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