Like many veterans, Victor Carl Honey was neglected by the government after serving in the U.S. Army for 10 years, spending 30 years living on the streets of Dallas while suffering from mental illness.
But the government finally saw some value in the 58-year-old Black man after he died in September 2022 by giving his body to a medical university, which then sold off his body parts to various companies without his prior consent or approval from his family, according to an investigative report by NBC News.
His right leg was dissected and sold off to a Swedish medical device maker for $341 to train clinicians to harvest veins with the device.
His torso was sold off to a medical education company in Pittsburgh for $900 so trainees could practice implanting a spine stimulator.
And a pair of bones from his skull was sold off to the U.S. Army for $210 to educate military medical personnel at a hospital near San Antonio.
Honey’s surviving family did not learn about his death until a year and a half later, when his son had a chance meeting with a woman who had been friends with his father. The family then learned about his dismemberment after being contacted by NBC News reporters.
“It’s like a hole in your soul that can never be filled,” one of Honey’s sisters, Brenda Cloud, told reporters. “We feel violated.”
As a veteran, Honey was entitled to a burial with military honors, but there was money to be made.
A Multi-million-Dollar Business
The selling of body parts from unclaimed bodies has been common practice in Dallas and Tarrant counties since 2019 under an agreement with the University of North Texas Health Science Center, which made $2.5 million a year selling body parts to medical organizations, according to the investigation.
NBC News reported that more than 2,350 unclaimed bodies were given to the university over the past five years, with 830 of those bodies selected for dissection. The bodies were mostly Black, male and mentally ill and were homeless.
They were then cremated with their ashes scattered at sea or interred in local cemeteries.
In at least 12 cases, family members had been looking for their relatives, but nobody from the government had contacted them before they were contacted by NBC News.
When first approached by reporters, officials from the Health Science Center defended the practice, arguing that it was essential for training future doctors.
“Bodies of deceased individuals entrusted to HSC are treated with the utmost dignity and respect regardless of the source. We care deeply for all our donors and understand the gift and legacy these individuals offer through real-life enhancement of medical education, biomedical research, and clinical skills training,” the university said in a one-page statement issued on Aug. 4.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that homelessness increased by more than 12 percent in January 2023 compared to the previous year, which would likely have led to increased profits for the Health Science Center.
Officials Backtracking
However, the Health Science Center had a change of heart six weeks after NBC News reporters presented them with their findings.
“As a result of the information brought to light through your inquiries, it has become clear that failures existed in the management and oversight of The University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Willed Body Program. The program has fallen short of the standards of respect, care and professionalism that we demand,” the university said in a statement issued on Sept. 13.
In the initial statement, the university said Dallas and Tarrant counties were doing their best to seek surviving relatives, and it is only after they are unable to find the relatives or discover the relatives are unable or unwilling to take responsibility that the bodies are then used for medical research.
However, in the case of Honey, his family said nobody had contacted them before they were contacted by NBC News, even though his son shares his first and last name and lives in the Dallas area.
Also having a change of heart was the top elected official in Tarrant County, Judge Tim O’Hare, who sits on the county commission and voted to renew the contract with the Health Science Center in January but is now vowing “to end any and all immoral, unethical, and irresponsible practices stemming from this program.”
“No individual’s remains should be used for medical research, nor sold for profit, without their pre-death consent, or the consent of their next of kin,” O’Hare’s office told NBC News.
“The idea that families may be unaware that their loved ones’ remains are being used for research without consent is disturbing, to say the least.”
However, the science center and county commission only had a change of heart after the practice was exposed by the media, which proved to save the county money while making money for the center.
But it was always an unethical practice, according to Thomas Champney, an anatomy professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine who researches the ethical use of human bodies.
“The county and the medical school are doing this because it saves them money, but that doesn’t make it right,” Champney told NBC News. “Since these individuals did not consent, they should not be used in any form or fashion.”
Honey’s family eventually buried his remains in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery on June 3, a military cemetery operated by the Department of Veteran Affairs.
