Responding to NBC News reporting, lawmakers sent letter to Dallas and Tarrant County Medical Examiner offices requesting information on “policies and practices regarding unclaimed remains of deceased individuals”
WASHINGTON — Today, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) and Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33) sent a letter to the offices of the Dallas County and Tarrant County Medical Examiners following reporting from NBC News regarding unclaimed bodies being provided to medical research facilities without proper notification and consent of next of kin. The lawmakers request the offices respond to a series of questions on the failures laid out in this investigation, including actions to redress the harm caused to the families of the deceased.
From the letter, “On September 16, 2024, NBC News published findings from its 10-month investigation into the practices of the Dallas County Medical Examiner and Tarrant County Medical Examiner regarding unclaimed bodies. The investigation scrutinized how your offices sent thousands of unclaimed bodies to the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas for medical training and research, often without the consent or knowledge of the deceased or their relatives.
The letter continues, “These actions purportedly saved “Dallas and Tarrant counties each . . . half-million dollars a year on burial and cremation” costs,—yet these savings frequently occurred as a result of repeated failures by investigators in Dallas and Tarrant counties, and the Health Science Center, to find and contact relatives of the unclaimed bodies. Indeed, between 2019 to 2023, your offices provided over a thousand unclaimed bodies to the Health Science Center, of which more than 800 were then used for research and study. The report then found that the remains were then cremated, interred at area cemeteries, or scattered at sea, despite the fact that many of these individuals’ families failed to receive notice of the unclaimed remains and “were looking for them.'”
The lawmakers shared concern over the case of deceased Dallas-area U.S. Army veteran Victor Honey, whose remains were provided to the North Texas Health Science Center without contacting his next of kin despite Mr. Honey’s son living in the Dallas area and sharing his first and last name. The lawmakers note that “under federal law, veterans and veterans’ dependents are entitled to certain funeral benefits, including, among other things, funds that assist with the costs of burials and funeral services, as well as possible burial locations and relocation to national VA cemeteries. By failing to contact Mr. Honey’s family, he was deprived of the rights he earned by bravely serving our country. This case alone raises serious concerns regarding how Dallas County and Tarrant County investigators attempt to satisfy the ‘diligent inquiry’ requirement set forth by state law.”
The lawmakers continue, “We are aware that the NBC investigation sparked widespread and immediate changes including the suspension of the body donation program at the Health Science Center, a temporary moratorium on all out-of-state shipments of cadavers, and the suspension or cessation of multiple contracts between the Health Science Center and various contractors. While we welcome these changes, they do not erase the pain and grief thousands of families are feeling as a result of the failures detailed in the investigation by NBC, nor do they ensure that proper safeguards are now in place to prevent the unapproved cremation of individuals or veterans who may have readily contactable next of kin.”
The letter concludes by asking representatives from both offices to respond to a series of questions regarding the “policies and practices regarding unclaimed remains of deceased individuals”, including all changes made to these policies following the release of the NBC News investigation. The lawmakers provide a deadline of November 30, 2024 for the offices to respond.
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