After controversy, Tarrant County adopts new policy to care for unburied remains

Following a national news investigation into Tarrant County’s donation of unidentified bodies to a university program, the county has created a new policy on how it handles unidentified bodies and inform families.

Tarrant’s commissioners voted unanimously to adopt its policy for “the operation of the dead poor” Oct. 15. Texas law requires every county commissioners court to take care of the bodies of people who cannot pay for funeral arrangements.

The new policy comes about a month after commissioners voted unanimously to close a program that donates undeclared bodies to underprivileged residents at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

The Health Sciences Center announced the suspension of its Willed Body Program and the termination of program leaders Sept. 13 after a months-long investigation by NBC News. The investigation found county officials and the Center for Health Sciences failed to adequately contact family members before declaring the body anonymous and using it for research and medical training.

NBC has identified 12 cases where families learned weeks, months or years after a relative’s body was delivered to the UNT Health Science Center.

Circuit Judge Tim O’Hare and Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons thanked county staff for their work in creating the new policy. Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez was absent from the meeting.

“Thank you for your work on this plan. Thank you for contacting the experts I have recommended and I hope they have been helpful. The policy looks good to all of them,” Simmons said.

In the new five-page policy, a person’s body is deemed not to be charged after a thorough examination finds that the person’s property does not have the resources to pay for the disposition, the relatives will not pay because they unwilling to pay or see. the identity is unknown, or his relatives are unable to make funeral arrangements with funeral families after presenting a minimum of three words.

Unclaimed remains will be cremated unless the person’s identity is unknown; cremation is expressly prohibited by the will of the person; a written objection is given by your next of kin within 10 days after the death; or the person is a retired veteran.

If there is an exception, the unclaimed body will receive a county funeral, which includes transportation to the funeral home and cemetery, a refrigerator, a pauper’s casket, the opening of the grave, the burial and the closing of the grave. A county funeral will not include a viewing, funeral services, flowers, officiant or next-of-kin transportation.

Tarrant County estimates the new plan to cost $675,000. The district will request additional funds if necessary.

The county’s human services department, which is currently responsible for providing social services and economic assistance to individuals and families, will carry out the duties outlined in the plan.

Under no circumstances will a cremation or burial take place earlier than 11 days after the date of death without the prior written permission of the department, according to the policy.

“All matters related to the final disposition of the remains of the indigent will be conducted with the utmost respect and dignity for the deceased and his or her relatives,” Tarrant County staff wrote.

Prior to the county’s agreement with the Health Sciences Center, the county was responsible for the supply of unclaimed remains. Tarrant County used to spend about half a million dollars annually on burials and cremations.

Between 2019 and 2024, the Institute of Life Sciences took over responsibility for transporting the bodies, filing death certificates, notifying Social Security, and finally, cremating the body if it was used for research. medical or not, according to an April 2022 Fort Worth Report article on. university cadaver program.

Health Sciences Center President Sylvia Trent-Adams said in a Sept. 16 to faculty, staff and students that the Willed Body Program has had “significant physical activity in the program” since it began working with local districts as allowed by state law. The university has received about $2.5 million a year from outside groups through the program.

“This growth exceeded the capacity of the administration and led to major oversight issues,” Trent-Adams wrote. “We are focusing our efforts on the core curriculum of the program and we are working to ensure that no unspoken groups are being used in any of our programs.”

The university’s program came under scrutiny in 2021 when University of Texas at Arlington professor Eli Shupe published a Dallas Morning News column that questioned the ethics of researching anonymous groups of the poor. without permission.

In September, after the publication of the NBC News report, O’Hare said that no human body should be used for medical research without their consent before death or the consent of a loved one.

“And, of course, no human body should be sold for profit, without permission one way or another,” O’Hare said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:30 pm Oct. 15 to specify the estimated premium of the new policy for unwanted entities.

Reporter Shomial Ahmad contributed to the report.

David Moreno is a health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.

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This article first appeared in the Fort Worth Report and is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license.