This article is part of a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research. It tells the story of Aurimar Iturriago Villegas, a 21-year-old woman from Venezuela who was shot and killed in a road rage incident in Texas. Aurimar’s body was donated to a local medical school without her family’s knowledge. Her mother, Arelis Coromoto Villegas, only learned two years after her daughter’s death when NBC News and Noticias Telemundo published a list of unclaimed bodies sent to the University of North Texas Health Science Center. The Center had agreements with local counties to receive unclaimed bodies, which helped them bring in revenue. Many bodies were used for student training or research, while others were leased out to medical technology companies. The practice of using unclaimed bodies for research is legal but considered unethical due to the absence of consent and the impact on surviving family members.
Arelis struggled to have her daughter’s body returned to Venezuela, facing bureaucratic breakdowns and communication failures. The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office did not attempt to contact her before declaring Aurimar’s body abandoned, and the whole ordeal has left Arelis unable to properly mourn her daughter. The University of North Texas Health Science Center has since suspended its body donation program, fired officials, and pledged to stop using unclaimed bodies. This case is one of many uncovered by reporters, where vulnerable individuals’ bodies were mistreated and families’ wishes disregarded, highlighting the challenges faced by overwhelmed coroners and medical institutions dealing with rising numbers of unclaimed dead.
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