Mom, Daughter Funeral Home Directors Indicted: Illegally Selling Body Parts of Dead W/Out Families' Consent

[thuumpr]

I've donated my body to the medical school, and, frankly, I could care less what happens to it after I'm dead. As long as I've spared my family the final expenses, I've accomplished my goal.

Hopefully, your family won't get tired of waiting...

 

[Alxprkrkrls]

Burke and HAIR!

(Get it? Cuz Burke and Hare were the famous grave robbers? And her hair is insane? Whatever I nailed it.)

 

[Symmachus]

 

[Satanica]

Jan 3 (Reuters) - A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission.
[....]
Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show.
[....]
The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately.

Hess' lawyer said she has been unfairly vilified as a "witch," a "monster" and a "ghoul," when instead she is a "broken human being" whose conduct can be attributed to a traumatic brain injury at age 18. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge.

Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions.

Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones.

"Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous."

Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. I'll never be OK."

It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. But selling body parts such as heads, arms and spines – which is what Hess did – for use in research or education is not regulated by federal law.

Hess committed crimes, prosecutors said, when she defrauded relatives of the deceased by lying about cremations and by dissecting bodies and selling them without permission. The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said.

At her funeral home, Hess charged families up to $1,000 for cremations that never occurred, prosecutors said, and she offered others free cremations in exchange for a body donation.

Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers.

Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 yrs for selling body parts

A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission.

www.reuters.com

 

[Metalfan]

I just want my balls to go to a loving sorority!

 

[thuumpr]

I just want my balls to go to a loving sorority!