Tarrant County has decided to terminate its contract with the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, through which it has been donating unclaimed dead bodies.
An NBC investigation showed how the center built a business off unclaimed dead bodies without the consent of the deceased or their loved ones.
Tarrant County has been providing the center with the bodies of “indigent and unclaimed minor children or adult descendants” in order for the county to save money, per Fort Worth Report.
“No one’s body should be used for medical research absent their pre-death consent or the consent of a loved one. And certainly, no one’s body should be sold for profit, absent consent one way or the other,” Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said, according to KERA News.
The center initially defended the program.
“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 center said in a statement, per Fort Worth Report.
“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,” the statement continued.
The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth recently suspended the program following its engagement with NBC’s investigation.
Dallas County and Tarrant County have sent more than 2,300 unclaimed bodies since 2019 to the center. The bodies were dissected, dismembered, and used for multiple purposes, including being contracted out to for-profit companies that conducted medical device testing.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said in a statement earlier this month that the matter was deeply concerning to him.
“It is imperative that every effort is made to notify the family of a deceased individual of the loss of their loved one,” O’Hare said, per Fort Worth Report.
“The idea that families may be unaware that their loved ones’ remains are being used for research without consent is disturbing, to say the least,” he added.