After NBC News investigation, Texas medical program ends practice of using unclaimed bodies

Dallas County officials discussed the unclaimed body program in a closed session, which involved providing bodies to a medical school due to being marked as unclaimed. This saved the county money but raised concerns about failures to contact reachable family members before declaring a body unclaimed. NBC News found 12 cases of families learning late about their relative being provided to the school, causing trauma. The school has since banned the use of unclaimed bodies and made several changes, including a temporary suspension of the program, firing officials, and hiring a consulting firm to investigate. Companies that unknowingly received body parts from unclaimed people from the school are also reviewing their transactions. The Army, DePuy Synthes, Boston Scientific, and the Texas Funeral Service Commission have all promised changes as well. The Health Science Center president described how the program had moved away from its original mission of educating medical students and is now focusing on obtaining human specimens only from consenting donors. A town hall will soon be held to address concerns and questions from students and staff. The goal is to ensure no unclaimed bodies are used in any programs in the future, returning to the original educational intent of the program.

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