Body Broker Bill
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Body Broker Bill

Current Legislation
Home Advocacy Current Legislation Body Broker Bill

Protect the Dignity of Those Who Donate Their Bodies for Medical Research and Give Peace of Mind to Families

When a family chooses to donate a loved one’s body for education or research, they do so with the hope that they will help others. Regrettably, many are unknowingly contributing to a for-profit industry in which the body of their loved one could be traded as raw material in a largely unregulated national market. With the introduction of the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act (CDRI Act; S. 4929/H.R. 4062) in the House, which has the full support of NFDA, Congress is taking a significant step toward protecting the dignity of donors and offering peace of mind to families.

Impact on Families

A broker in Detroit sold and rented body parts infected with HIV and hepatitis … another sold body parts for use in U.S. Army blast experiments … another left bodies and body parts to decompose due to improper storage … another dissected donor bodies with a chainsaw. These are just a few of the stories detailed in an article published by Reuters, detailing the devastating impact of body brokers.

Hear about the impact of body brokers from donor families in these news stories:

The Story of the Saunders Family

  • Live Autopsy of COVID Victim Allegedly Took Place Without Family's Consent (Newsweek)
  • Family of Man Dissected at Autopsy Event Says They Didn’t Give Consent (KING-TV (Seattle)
  • COVID-19 Victim Reportedly Dissected At Ticketed Event Without Family's Consent (Huffington Post)
  • Outrage as Live Autopsy is Carried Out on WW2 Veteran (The Daily Mail)

WXYZ-TV Detroit

Sunset Mesa - Colorado

  • Exclusive: FBI Raids Colorado Body Broker Following Reuters Report
  • Montrose Funeral Home Owner Who Allegedly Sold Hundreds of Bodies Without Families’ Consent is Federally Indicted
  • Date Set for Trial in Case of Funeral Home Selling Body Parts
  • Second Plea in U.S. Funeral Home Scheme to Sell Body Parts
  • Koch's Sentence Date Continued in Fraud Case Centered on Sale of Bodies
  • Families Demand Accountability in Sunset Mesa Body-scheme Case as Koch Pleads to Mail Fraud
  • Former Colorado Funeral Home Owner Sentenced to 20 yrs for Selling Body Parts
  • 'Somebody Murdered My Dead Husband': Victims of Colo. Funeral Home that Doubled as Body Broker Begin to Heal

WBBM-TV Chicago

KING-TV

Former Seattle 'Body Broker' Convicted for Dumping Bodies in Arizona

WPMT-TV

Cumberland County Man Accused of Illegally Purchasing Human Remains for Resale on Facebook

Reuters Expose on Body Brokers

The Body Trade: Cashing in on the Donated Dead

The Solution

The solution to the heartbreak experienced by too many families is the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act (S. 4929/H.R. 4062), which will protect the dignity of donors and give families peace of mind by creating standards for registration; inspection; chain of custody; labeling and packaging; and proper disposition.

Learn more about the solution contained in the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act, the devastation caused by body brokers and the difference between donation for transplantation and whole-body donation.

Download the Guide to the CDRI Act

NFDA is grateful to Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Reps. Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) for introducing the CDRI Act. 

NFDA strongly urges the Senate and House of Representatives to pass the CDRI Act and provide long-overdue accountability and transparency to the whole-body donation process and ensure donors’ bodies are treated with dignity and respect at all times. The families of donors deserve peace of mind, knowing their loved one’s body will make a difference.

Have Questions?

If you have questions about the CDRI Act, please contact NFDA Senior Vice President, Advocacy, Lesley Witter at lwitter@nfda.org. 

“The exploitation of bodies that have been donated for education or research is deeply disturbing and heartbreaking for the families who expect their loved one’s remains to be treated with dignity. For too long, an unregulated industry has allowed body brokers to profit off donor bodies and their grieving families, disproportionally impacting the poor and elderly. This legislation would increase accountability and transparency and stop bad actors from committing these gross abuses."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Senate Co-sponsor of the CDRI Act

"Most Americans would be shocked to learn that there is a for-profit body broker industry that creates significant ethical dilemmas and public health threats because of a lack of regulation. Our bipartisan legislation will introduce much-needed accountability and regulatory oversight to protect public health and ensure that donors and their families are treated with respect and dignity."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
Senate Co-sponsor of the CDRI Act

As grotesque and shocking abuses of donor bodies abound, and grief-stricken family members are taken advantage of by unscrupulous body brokers, the need for federal regulation of this process could not be more clear. The Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act will ensure that individuals and families who make the selfless decision to advance scientific research can be certain that their remains, or the remains of their loved ones, will be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
House Co-sponsor of the CDRI Act

This important legislation provides safeguards to ensure that human remains are disposed of in a manner that preserves the dignity and choices of the patient or next of kin. The industry has been largely unregulated and sadly many families have been exploited for profit. Our bill gives family members the peace of mind of knowing that their wishes are being honored.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)
House Co-sponsor of the CDRI Act

How You Can Help

NFDA is working hard every day to secure congressional support for the CDRI Act but we can’t do it alone. We are stronger – and more successful – when you join us in speaking out on behalf of the families you serve. 

We’re asking you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the CDRI Act. Contacting your Representative and Senators is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Click here and enter your address to find contact information for your Representative and Senators. 

2. Compose an email to your members of Congress. Here’s a sample email you can use; feel free to personalize it as appropriate. 

Subject: Protect the Dignity of Those Who Donate Their Bodies for Medical Research and Give Peace of Mind to Families

Text:

As a funeral director, when a family asks me to care for a loved one who has died they are placing a great deal of trust in me. That trust – to care for their loved one with respect and dignity – is sacred to me. 

I have heard heartbreaking stories about families that believed they were doing a good thing when they donated a loved one’s body for medical research. They truly believed the donation would create a positive legacy. However, the repugnant actions of bodybrokers have only caused further grief.

A lack of government regulation can sometimes mean that a family’s gift is not used as intended – mistreated, misplaced and handled without dignity. Can you imagine that happening to someone you love.

The solution is The Consensual Donation and Research Integrity (CDRI) Act (S. 4929/H.R. 4062), which will protect the dignity of donors and give families peace of mind by creating standards for registration; inspection; chain of custody; labeling and packaging; and proper disposition.

The tragic headlines about body brokers taking advantage of the generosity of donors and donor families by selling and reselling body parts at a substantial profit are shocking. I urge you to support the CDRI Act and help prevent families from enduring the heartache that far too many have already endured.

Members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which are already strictly regulated, are exempt from the CDRI Act. Additionally, the bill will not impact negatively medical schools and other similar organizations that have a long and well-documented history of handling donated bodies with respect and dignity. In fact, medical schools will benefit from this bill because some of them have seen a decline in donations because they do not engage in the same aggressive marketing and solicitation tactics used by body brokers.

By supporting the CDRI Act, you will provide long-overdue accountability and transparency to the whole-body donation process and ensure donors’ bodies are treated with dignity and respect at all times. The families of donors deserve peace of mind, knowing their loved one’s body will make a difference.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Business Name

Your City, Your State

3. Proofread your message and then send it off to your representative! 

Collectively, our voices are stronger when we speak together. Thank you again for taking a few minutes to contact your Representative on this important issue; this simple act shows just how much you care for the families you serve.
 

News Coverage & Bill Status

  • Murphy, Tillis Introduce the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act (Sen. Chris Murphy News Release)
  • Body Broker Bill Introduced in the Senate (NFDA News Release)
  • Rush, Bilirakis Introduce Bill to Regulate Body Donation for Medical Research and Education as Grisly Abuses of Donor Bodies Abound (Rep. Bobby Rush news release)
  • Body Broker Bill Introduced in Congress (NFDA news release)
  • Proposed Federal Legislation Would Impose Regulations To Prevent Black-Market Brokering Of Donated Body Parts (WBBM-TV, Chicago)
  • Advocacy Awareness: Guarding Their Dignity (The Director, November 2021 - NFDA members only; login required)

Listen

Listen to an eposide of the NFDA podcast, A Brush With Death, to learn more about body brokers and the CDRI Act. 

“It’s hard to imagine, in this day and age, that whole body donation isn’t regulated. What’s even harder to hear are the stories from families that have experienced heartbreak and grief when they discovered the bodies of their loved ones has been desecrated and sold – sometimes repeatedly – by body brokers. NFDA and its members strongly urge the Senate and House to pass the CDRI Act and provide long-overdue accountability and transparency to the whole-body donation process. This will help ensure donors’ bodies are treated with dignity and respect at all times.”

2021-22 NFDA President Randall P. “Randy” Anderson, CFSP, CCO.
Alexander City, AL

The heinous acts committed by body brokers have deeply impacted the families I serve in my home state of Arizona. The anguish body brokers have caused must be stopped. I am proud that NFDA is taking on this important issue and ask my fellow members to join me in fighting for the dignity of those we serve. NFDA will be giving us the tools we need to reach out and lobby our members of Congress. With your help, we can get the CDRI Act passed.

NFDA member Hillary Adair
Williams, Arizona

Current Legislation
  • Body Broker Bill

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