Veteran’s body sent across state lines without family’s knowledge

Veteran’s body sent across state lines without family’s knowledge 
USANews.net; by Michael Carter; 12/17/24 
In a shocking turn of events, Karen Wandel received a distressing message last year that her father, Libero Marinelli Jr., had passed away over five months earlier in a South Carolina hospital. What came as an even greater shock was the revelation that his body had been sent to be used for medical research without the knowledge of his family. This troubling incident sheds light on the complex and often unregulated practices surrounding the use of unclaimed bodies in the healthcare industry. ... The treatment of Marinelli, a former Army service member entitled to burial in a veterans’ cemetery, underscores the ethical dilemmas surrounding the supply of unclaimed bodies for medical research. Despite widespread acknowledgment of the unethical nature of this practice, it continues to persist due to the healthcare industry’s demand for human specimens and local officials’ struggles with the rising number of unclaimed bodies without next of kin.
Editor's note: This demonstrates yet another example of the shocking story that received extensive national network news (and that we posted 9/17/24), "As families searched, a Texas medical school cut up their loved ones."