For five years, the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth received unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties for medical research purposes. These bodies were assessed and those that were infected with diseases or had begun decomposing were cremated, while the rest were embalmed or stored in freezers. Some bodies were used to train future doctors and nurses, while others were cut into pieces and leased out to medical schools, the U.S. Army, and medical technology companies. Using unclaimed bodies for research is legal in most of the U.S. and has been touted as a cost-effective way to advance medicine while saving taxpayers money on burial costs.
However, a recent NBC News investigation revealed that at least a dozen families in North Texas were not informed about what happened to their missing relatives whose bodies had been donated to the Health Science Center. As a result, the program was abruptly halted, officials were fired, and apologies were issued to affected families. Nine more families have since come forward to share similar experiences, sparking concern and sadness over the fate of their loved ones’ bodies.
In an effort to provide answers, NBC News has published a database containing the names of over 1,800 individuals whose bodies were donated to the Health Science Center by Dallas and Tarrant counties since 2019. The information was obtained through open records requests from county medical examiners.
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