This article is part of a series called “Dealing with the Dead,” which investigates the utilization of unclaimed bodies for medical research. In Cornelius, North Carolina, Karen Wandel received distressing news last year: Her father, Libero Marinelli Jr., passed away in a South Carolina hospital over five months prior. Due to no family claiming his body, the hospital sent it for medical research. Despite having a strained relationship with her father, Wandel was shocked by the treatment, especially since Marinelli, a former Army service member, was entitled to burial in a veterans’ cemetery. Instead, his body was sent to a body broker in another state.
The use of unclaimed bodies for medical research is widely regarded as unethical, leading many major medical schools and some states to discontinue the practice. However, the demand for human specimens in the healthcare industry and the increase in bodies without next of kin contribute to the continuation of this practice. The lack of federal regulation and oversight in the body industry makes it challenging to determine the frequency of such occurrences.
NBC News conducted an investigation into the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research, uncovering instances in various states. For example, a community college in North Carolina received 43 unclaimed bodies for teaching embalming, while a state body-donation program in Pennsylvania received 58 unclaimed bodies for distribution to medical schools. Despite the efforts to track and regulate the use of unclaimed bodies, many states lack records or transparency on the matter.
Experts in the field, such as Joy Balta, emphasize the need for more regulation and oversight to ensure ethical practices and respect for the dignity of individuals in medical research involving unclaimed bodies.
The body donation industry has been criticized for using unclaimed bodies, prompting calls for donation programs to cease this practice. Without proper regulations in place, coroners, hospitals, and nursing homes often decide to donate unclaimed bodies to medical schools or body dealers, even without confirmation of the deceased person’s or their next of kin’s wishes.
One notable case involved a Fort Worth-based medical school, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, which collected thousands of unclaimed bodies and leased them to various entities without consent. Following investigative reporting by NBC News, the center ceased this practice, citing failures in respect and professionalism.
Karen Wandel’s experience highlights the consequences of not involving family members in decisions regarding a deceased loved one’s remains. Wandel, who had not spoken to her father for years, expressed regret that she was not informed of his passing to claim his body. Her father, a former Army officer and lawyer who struggled with alcoholism, was eventually left unclaimed and went on to be handled by a for-profit body broker.
Wandel’s story underscores the importance of communication and transparency in handling the remains of the deceased, as well as the need for respectful and dignified treatment of individuals, regardless of their circumstances.
Despite their disagreements, Marinelli tried to remain a part of Wandel’s life, even walking her down the aisle at her wedding. When he celebrated his 80th birthday on June 29, 2022, Marinelli reassured his younger sister and brother that he was doing well at his home in Greer, South Carolina. Unfortunately, two days later, Marinelli fell at home and was unable to get up. He was rushed to Spartanburg Medical Center, where his health deteriorated rapidly, leading to respiratory failure, a blood infection, Covid, pneumonia, and strokes. Despite mentioning an estranged daughter and providing some family details, efforts to locate his relatives were unsuccessful. Left with no family available to make decisions on his behalf, the hospital ultimately made the difficult choice to remove him from life support, and he passed away on July 28, 2022. The hospital expressed its condolences and commitment to honoring patients’ wishes both in life and after death.
Following his death, efforts to locate Marinelli’s family were unsuccessful, and his body was eventually given to NovaShare, a company that provides human specimens for various purposes. Wandel only learned of her uncle’s passing in January 2023, when her uncle Louis reached out to her after searching for Marinelli for weeks. Louis discovered that Marinelli had passed away months earlier at Spartanburg Medical Center.
When Wandel came to terms with her father’s passing and the irreconcilable nature of their relationship, she was surprised to learn that his body had been donated to science. Initially, she assumed his body had been used for educational purposes at a medical school to train future doctors and scientists. However, upon driving to Spartanburg to obtain his death certificate in order to arrange for his remains and a military funeral, she discovered that the hospital had actually provided his body to NovaShare, a body broker company. This revelation led Wandel to research the body broker industry, where she uncovered disturbing stories of the misuse of donated human specimens, such as in Army bomb-blast tests and as car crash dummies.
Questioning why the hospital did not inform the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for a potential free burial in a veterans cemetery and why she or her father’s siblings had not been contacted, Wandel grew increasingly upset. Her frustration escalated when she found out that his cremated remains would not be available for another six weeks. Confronting Wes Collins, the coordinator of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System’s ethics committee, Wandel learned that the hospital had turned to NovaShare due to an overwhelming number of bodies during the pandemic and assured her they would discontinue the partnership.
Despite seeking answers from Collins and attempting to reach out to NovaShare without success, Wandel eventually received assistance from the state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs to retrieve her father’s cremated remains from NovaShare. His ashes were laid to rest in a columbarium at M.J. “Dolly” Cooper Veterans Cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina. However, the uncertainty surrounding her father’s final treatment and her inability to prevent it plagued Wandel with persistent nightmares even after his remains were interred.
At her father’s funeral, Wandel reflected on their fractured relationship and the attempts they had made to reconcile over the years. Emotionally overwhelmed, she accepted a folded flag from an Army honor guard in honor of her father’s service and recounted their shared struggles in her eulogy. Later, Wandel obtained her father’s hospital records, discovering the distress he had experienced before his passing, including his thoughts of his family and pets, which deeply saddened her.
Months after the funeral, Wandel came across an article about the unauthorized use of unclaimed bodies in medical research and reached out to the reporters to share her family’s experience. Determined to raise awareness about this issue, she seeks to advocate for better oversight and support for affected families.
A federal bill has been proposed that would mandate individuals who obtain human bodies for profit to register with the government and provide evidence of consent. This bill has been discussed for several years without significant progress. In South Carolina, using unclaimed bodies for medical research is legal, but the extent of the state’s involvement in overseeing hospitals’ decisions when patients pass away without next of kin is unclear. Despite the existing regulations, Wandel feels that hospital and county officials should have made a greater effort to locate her and her family. She firmly believes that there is a proper way to handle such situations.
Marinelli’s burial marker commemorates his service in the Army’s legal corps. Following Wandel’s account, NBC News reached out to Crook, the founder of NovaShare, who was the sole individual capable of shedding light on the circumstances surrounding Marinelli’s body. In a series of text messages and a phone call, Crook, a former funeral home employee who established NovaShare in 2018, revealed that he had retrieved Marinelli’s frozen body and transported it to a facility in North Carolina. Upon thawing the body, Crook determined that it was not suitable for research or training due to its poor condition. Consequently, he returned the body to a freezer, where it remained for several months. Crook acknowledged that he lacked documentation of these events.
According to Crook, he had not been in contact with Marinelli’s family. He mentioned that as a general practice, he refrains from informing families when their relatives’ bodies are unsuitable for research to spare their feelings. Crook expressed the belief that it is more beneficial for the grieving process to allow families to believe their loved ones contributed to medical advancements. Additionally, Crook disclosed that NovaShare ceased accepting unclaimed bodies over a year ago due to their frequent poor condition.
Upon learning of Crook’s explanation, Wandel expressed skepticism regarding the claim that her father’s body was not utilized for research. The entire ordeal has left her feeling unsettled and disappointed, as she believes she has not received adequate answers to her questions. She questioned why her father’s body had been stored in a freezer for six months if it was deemed unsuitable for donation.
