It's a chilling reality that has left many families shattered and outraged. In a 10-month investigation, NBC News exposed how two of the most populous counties in the United States, Dallas and Tarrant, have been sending unclaimed bodies to a Texas medical school for research and training purposes. The twist? These bodies were often used without the consent of the deceased or their relatives, leaving loved ones in the dark about what happened to their loved ones.

The medical school, the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, received over 2,350 unclaimed bodies since 2019, with more than 830 being selected for dissection and study. But it's not just the medical school that's involved; the bodies were also cut up and shipped across the country to for-profit medical device makers, other universities, and even the Army. These recipients would lease the body parts for hundreds of dollars apiece, so that doctors could practice medical procedures.

The investigation found repeated failures by death investigators and the medical school to contact family members who were reachable before declaring a body unclaimed and using it for research. This meant that many families only found out what happened to their loved ones weeks, months, or even years later. Five families were left in the dark until they were contacted by NBC News.

The story of Victor Honey, a homeless and mentally ill Army veteran, is a particularly heart-wrenching example. His unclaimed body was cut up and leased out to groups across the country, and it took his family over a year and a half to discover what happened. "It's like a hole in your soul that can never be filled," said Brenda Cloud, one of Honey's sisters. "We feel violated."

The Dark Side of Medical Research: Unclaimed Bodies Used Without Consent

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