A Fort Worth medical school has suspended its program that used unclaimed bodies for medical research and sold some of the corpses to companies across the nation.
The University of North Texas Health Science Center announced the suspension late last week after an investigation from NBC News detailed how more than 2,300 bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties had been used since 2019.
The news network’s investigation found repeated failures by death investigators to contact family members before declaring a body unclaimed. The network also identified 12 cases in which families learned weeks, months or years later that their relative was provided to the medical school.
HSC released a statement Friday saying there were failures in the management and oversight of the Willed Body Program and apologized to the families who were impacted.
“The program has fallen short of the standards of respect, care and professionalism we demand,” the statement reads.
In addition to suspending the program pending the outcome of an internal assessment and a review by an external global consulting firm with expertise in health care, the center took “personnel actions,” including firing the program’s leaders, and permanently closed its BioSkills Lab.
“The intent of the program is to educate future physicians, scientists and other health professionals and improve the quality of health for families and future generations,” the release said. “We are committed to operating all programs with transparency, integrity and the highest ethical standards, and we are dedicated to maintaining trust in our institution. We hope these actions can ensure our educational studies are made with every effort to show dignity, grace and respect.”
Separately, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court is set to vote Tuesday on whether to terminate a contract between the county and HSC. The agreement, which was entered in 2018 and renewed on a yearly basis since, allowed the county to give unclaimed bodies to the center.
