“Is it my Mom’s cremation that I really have on my mantle? Until I have full details I have questions about what’s going on there.”
–Jackie Mahaney, about her mother Royal’s donation to Biological Resource
Jackie Mahaney’s mother Royal enthusiastically signed up to be a donor of her body to Biological Resource in Phoenix.
Mahaney told Phoenix’s 3TV, “She was a big advocate of helping science, research and medical technology.”
All of that came in to doubt on January 21, 2014, when the FBI and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office arrived at Biological Resource with search and seizure warrants investigating possible illegal selling of human parts.
Biological Resource (“Bio Resource”) accepts full body donations and in exchange offers free cremation for the remains that, well, remain. On their website, Bio Resource describes the function of their for profit company: “Researchers utilize human organs and tissues to study specific disease processes, develop and test treatments, develop new and exciting surgical techniques, assist in the creation of progressive medical devices and create new therapies to alleviate the suffering of the medically afflicted. There is no viable substitute for human tissue in these endeavors.”
All accusations are alleged. There have been no arrests or charges filed. An exhaustive investigation is underway.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office will not give the reason for the raid, but it is tied to a similar raid a month earlier on International Biological Inc. on Grinnell Avenue, near Coleman A. Young Airport in Detroit. This body donation agency is operated by Arthur Rathburn. He is reportedly a funeral director and a former morgue attendant at the University of Michigan Medical School, according to My Fox Detroit. Rathburn was featured in Annie Cheney’s book, Body Brokers (2006). The book detailed an “underground trade in human remains.”
There is suspicion of a link between Biological Resource owner Steve Gore and Rathburn. The investigation will reveal any relationships (through means such as DNA, to detect any transfer of body parts between the two facilities).
On his website, Bio Resource CEO Gore states, “As per the Attorney General’s message to the public, little information has been made available. This lack of information has led many to speculate and to make incorrect conclusions.”
Stephanie Grisham of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office stated, “All I can say is that it is a joint investigation between the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.” Grisham stated that the FBI was involved because it involved two states, Arizona and Michigan. It has been a nine month investigation.
The reason why this is so important to Arizona funeral directors is that as of March 2014, body donation agencies need to have a funeral home file the death certificate for them. Biological Resource currently uses a removal service for the removal of the donor from place of death and the service’s name would appear on the funeral facility’s space.
I discussed this with Rudy Thomas, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers many months ago, before the raid. I asked about a funeral director’s liability coverage in the event a body donation facility mishandled a donor. It was a potential problem we were already working on.
I reached out to Executive Director Thomas following the news of the raid, but “he couldn’t comment on this ongoing investigation.”
There are already legislators drawing up legislation to control the disposition of donated remains. It is a process that funeral directors need to be aware of. There is no doubt that some of this control will come under the State Board of Funeral Directors as funeral directors will be filing death certificates.
If funeral service is only involved in the transportation of the deceased from the place of death to their funeral home to await proper documentation filing and then the eventual release to the body donation, where is the liability coverage after the release of these remains?
When the interrogation is completed, these questions should have a coherent answer.
The investigation is sure to draw in several other participants in the donation process. If any funeral home did file death certificates for this firm, they may be part of a class action lawsuit that will undoubtedly arise from this investigation. I imagine the crematories that performed their services with the Biological Resource name as the funeral facility will be questioned at the least. If the examination of Bio Resource reveals malfeasance, what will the hospice organizations that have recommended this firm say to these families?
The families of the donors are the ones truly awaiting results of the FBI/Attorney General’s inquiry.
William Ivey of Arizona and family donated his mother in law Opal’s body to Biological Resource after a discussion with hospice workers.
“Our main concern at this point is whether we will in fact get them (her cremated remains) given that the FBI is involved and whether or not they’ll be the correct remains, because how can you tell?”
“Every year human corpses meant for anatomy classes, burial or cremation find their way into the hands of a shadowy group of entrepreneurs who profit by buying and selling human remains.”
–Amazon Summary of the book, “Body Brokers”