Senate committee hears accounts of alleged abuses in willed‑body market; Parker lays out bills to tighten consent, licensing

Senate Bill 27 21 and a companion bill, Senate Bill 14 06, were laid out together in the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services as legislators and witnesses described shocking abuses in the non‑transplant anatomical donation market and urged tougher state oversight and criminal penalties.

Senator Carol Parker, the bills’ author, told the committee that recent national and in‑state investigative reporting had uncovered “horrifying abuses” and that her substitute would “establish mandatory licensing for willed body programs and human body acquisition services. It institutes inspections. It demands transparency and accountability.” She said the substitute aims to create a “strict and stringent regulatory framework” to prevent exploitation of unclaimed or donated remains.

Parker described multiple investigative examples and specific cases discussed at the hearing. She told the committee that the University of North Texas Health Science Center had acquired more than 2,350 unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant Counties since February 2019, and she recounted several high‑profile family accounts of remains used without clear consent. Kimberly Patman, who identified herself as the ex‑wife of Victor Carl Honey, described the…