NBC News' probe into unclaimed bodies used for research in Texas: 5 key takeaways
In response to reporters' investigation, the University of North Texas Health Science Center suspended its body donation program and fired the officials in charge.
This article is part of “Dealing the Dead,” a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research.
A 10-month NBC News investigation laid out in stark detail how two of the country’s most populous counties sent unclaimed bodies to a Texas medical school, which used them for medical training and research — often without the consent of the deceased or their relatives’ knowledge.
Many of the bodies were cut up and shipped across the country to for-profit medical device makers, other universities and the Army. These recipients leased the body parts for hundreds of dollars apiece — $900 for a torso, $341 for a leg — so that doctors could practice medical procedures.
The use of such unclaimed bodies for research violates modern ethical standards and has traumatized many families who discovered that a loved one had been dissected and studied by strangers without anyone asking their permission. Still, it remains legal in Texas, as in most states.
NBC News’ investigation focused on Dallas and Tarrant counties, where elected officials have approved sending more than 2,350 unclaimed bodies to the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth since 2019. More than 830 of those were selected for dissection and study.
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