UNT science center president resigns following report revealing unclaimed bodies were used as cadavers or sold without consent

The president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center will step down at the end of the month after an investigation revealed the institution used unclaimed bodies as cadavers or sold them to researchers without permission from next of kin or the deceased themselves.The University of North Texas System Board of Regents approved Sylvia Trent-Adams’ resignation on Monday following an explosive NBC News investigation detailing the shocking scheme.

The brief statement from the Forth Worth-based university didn’t touch on the bombshell report and lauded Trent-Adams for her “dedication, integrity, and respect.” It also didn’t note her exact reason for leaving.The NBC News investigation uncovered half a decade’s worth of alleged malpractice and manipulation that ultimately resulted in the desecration of hundreds of corpses since 2019.The bodies — including many military veterans — had all been unclaimed or unidentified, so many of the next of kin were not aware of what had happened to their loved ones until the report was released with the names of some of the deceased.The center, helmed by Trent-Adams, was given roughly 2,350 unclaimed or unidentified bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties over a five-year period.

Of those, 830 corpses were deemed usable for medical education and research and were either used as cadavers by UNT medical students or dismembered and sold in parts to other medical schools, for-profit biotech companies or the US Army, the outlet reported.The center was able to cash a hefty $2.5 million a year through the sales.

It also liquefied many of the bodies through water cremation, which is currently illegal in Texas despite attempts to legalize it in recent years.All the while, the people whose bodies were shipped off to the university after death had never consented to donate their corpses to science while alive.Their loved ones also didn’t give permission — and often had no knowledge of what had happened to the...