WaPo: “Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die with no one able or willing to claim their remains. Some died without living relatives, while others were estranged from family. Many are survived by loved ones who would gladly have laid them to rest but could not afford cremation or burial costs.
In September, the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth made headlines for dissecting the unclaimed remains of hundreds of individuals without their consent or the permission of their next of kin. The bodies were sent to the health science center by county officials to avoid paying for the cremation of their poorest residents. This was neither illegal nor peculiar to Texas. Indeed, the use of unclaimed bodies is one of the oldest dirty secrets in medicine.”