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5 things to know about NBC News’ investigation into unclaimed bodies used for research in Texas

NBC News
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82% Informative

Dallas and Tarrant counties sent unclaimed bodies to a Texas medical school for medical training and research.

Many of the bodies were cut up and shipped across the country to for-profit medical device makers, other universities and the Army .

The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth fired its leaders and hired a consulting firm to investigate its practices.

The use of unclaimed bodies ties back to a dark history, when U.S. medical schools turned to “body snatchers” who dug up the graves of poor and formerly enslaved people.

The American Association for Anatomy released guidelines for human body donation last year stating that “programs should not accept unclaimed or unidentified individuals into their programs as a matter of justice”.