Dealing corpses from a Las Vegas strip mall: A look inside the shadowy U.S. body trade
Obteen Nassiri lost his chiropractor license and started dealing bodies. His company, Med Ed Labs, faced scandals, including complaints that he mishandled human remains.
This article is part of “Dealing the Dead,” a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research.
LAS VEGAS — Obteen Nassiri was in need of a new line of work. After losing his chiropractor’s license following allegations that he had misled patients and defrauded insurers out of millions, he dove into an industry with virtually no guardrails or barriers to entry — the shadowy U.S. body trade.
Operating out of a beige strip mall in Las Vegas between a tattoo parlor and a psychic, Nassiri’s new company, Med Ed Labs, acquired corpses from funeral homes and medical schools, then sold or leased them at a markup to groups seeking human remains for medical training, including the U.S. military.
Within just a few years, he had built a national network of suppliers and clients. He also left a trail of scandal and alleged ethical failures, including complaints that he mishandled human remains.
Like in 2023, when a university expressed concern that Nassiri had failed to return nearly 20 feet. Or when he shipped remains in dirty and disintegrating containers, with one box likened to “scrap cardboard.” Or when he supplied a World War II veteran’s body for an event in which members of the public paid $500 to watch it be dissected in a hotel ballroom, drawing the fury of the man’s family.
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