Texas county adopts policy to ensure unclaimed bodies are treated with dignity

Tarrant County will now cremate or bury unclaimed bodies rather than sending them to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for education and research.

This article is part of “Dealing the Dead,” a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research.

A Texas county that for years gave unclaimed bodies to a local medical school without families’ consent will now cremate or bury those people instead — but only after officials document that they have done all they can to contact relatives.

The revamped rules, approved unanimously Tuesday by the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, are the latest change prompted by an NBC News investigation that revealed how the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth cut up and leased out the remains of hundreds of unclaimed people to other schools, medical technology companies and the Army. The vast majority of the unclaimed bodies — people whose families could not afford funeral arrangements or could not be found — came from Tarrant and Dallas counties, which each saved half a million dollars a year in burial and cremation costs. 

“The county is now in a position to do things ethically, as opposed to before, when we counted on the University of North Texas Health Science Center to handle our business,” Commissioner Alisa Simmons said after Tuesday’s vote. 

Tarrant County commissioners discussed terminating their agreement with the University of North Texas Health Science Center at a meeting Sept. 17.Shelby Tauber for NBC NewsTarrant County had delegated the work of contacting dead people’s families and cremating their remains to the Health Science Center. The new policy brings that responsibility back to the county — at an estimated cost of $675,000 a year.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tarrant-county-texas-unclaimed-bodies-policy-rcna175249

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