Texas lawmaker moves to outlaw medical research on corpses without consent
A Texas lawmaker horrified by an NBC News investigation into a medical school that profited from the bodies of the poor moved this week to ban the practice.
This article is part of “Dealing the Dead,” a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research.
A Texas lawmaker horrified by an NBC News investigation into a medical school that profited from the bodies of the poor and vulnerable moved this week to ban the practice, introducing a bill that would make it illegal in the state to perform medical research on a corpse without explicit consent.
The proposal is a direct response to NBC News’ “Dealing the Dead” series, which exposed how the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth took hundreds of unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties, cut them up and leased them out to medical device companies, other universities and the Army. Reporters discovered dozens of families who said they would have claimed their loved ones’ bodies and given them proper funerals if they had been told. Some were still searching for their relatives, unaware that they had died.
Sen. Tan Parker, who filed the bill in the Texas Legislature on Wednesday, said he had no idea what the Health Science Center had been doing until he saw NBC News’ investigation in September. The findings outraged and disgusted him, he said.
Texas state Sen. Tan Parker said he was upset by NBC News' findings.Texas Senate Media Services“Every Texan deserves dignity in life and death, and the right of families to decide how their loved ones’ remains are handled must be protected,” Parker, a Republican whose district includes portions of Dallas and Tarrant counties, said in a statement. “No family should ever have to worry that the remains of their loved ones could be taken, dismembered, and leased out without any effort to notify the next of kin. This legislation puts an end to that practice once and for all, ensuring Texas law upholds the highest ethical standards and respects the dignity of every individual.”
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