State regulators have slammed the brakes on a Texas medical school’s eyebrow-raising habit of liquefying bodies after research. Yes, liquefying.
NBC News dug up (sorry) a recent cease-and-desist letter from the Texas Funeral Service Commission, which informed the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth that its use of “alkaline hydrolysis” — aka water cremation — to dispose of remains was very illegal.
The practice, which is touted as being eco-friendly, involves turning a body into liquid and leftover ashes. The liquid is then poured down the drain. Classy!
“This practice is not authorized under Texas state law and constitutes a serious violation of the standards governing the lawful disposition of human remains,” the commission wrote, basically telling the school, “Stop flushing people.”
UNT Health Science Center claims a state administrative code allowed water cremation for research bodies, but the Funeral Commission wasn’t buying it. According to the commission, Texas law only permits burial or traditional cremation.
NBC News did note, though, that water cremation is legal in more than 25 other states.
The school preemptively stopped the practice on Sept. 16 — the same day an NBC News exposé revealed that the center had been dissecting unclaimed bodies for research without consent from families.
A significant number of the bodies were dissected and rented out to other schools, medical tech companies, and even the Army for training purposes. Following the investigation, the center shut down its body donation program and dismissed the officials in charge.
As for liquefying bodies, Eli Shupe, a bioethicist at UT Arlington, summed it up this way: “This is a huge ethical issue. It doesn’t seem as if they took the wishes of the families very seriously.”
Translation: Maybe ask before you dissolve Grandma and pour her down the drain.
