Tarrant County: New Rules for Unclaimed Bodies

For years, Tarrant County in Texas had been sending unclaimed bodies to the University of North Texas Health Science Center without family consent. This changed recently when the county commissioners unanimously voted for a new policy. Now, these bodies will be cremated or buried, but only after exhausting all efforts to contact relatives. The county will bear the extra cost of $675,000 annually to handle this responsibility ethically. This shift follows an NBC News investigation that revealed the misuse of unclaimed bodies for medical research. The new policy ensures that all available means are used to find and notify families before processing the remains. It also takes religious beliefs into account. This change is a step towards treating the deceased with dignity, reflecting an evolving perspective in medical ethics.