Boston Scientific’s Relievant Medsystems used at least 25 unclaimed bodies for training, including that of a murdered 21-year-old woman whose family was fighting to bring her home. The company said it didn’t know.
Bodies are used in countless ways in the medical world — by doctors to hone surgical skills, by paramedics to practice lifesaving techniques and by acupuncturists learning how organs interact. And before a new medical device is deployed in human clinical trials, biotech companies often use bodies as a test.
What Relievant did not know at the time, according to emails obtained by NBC News through a records request to the university, was that at least 25 of the bodies the company used for these trainings As NBC News began to ask questions, Sachariason suggested Boston Scientific publicly say that it was reviewing its work with the Health Science Center, and Kevin Barry, a company legal director, advised leaders to avoid the appearance of “turning a blind eye to UNT’s practices,” according to a...
NBC News surveyed the 15 largest medical device makers and found that just two others — Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic — said they have policies against using unclaimed bodies for research or training. Fresenius Medical Care said it did not use bodies. The rest said they did not have a policy, did not respond or did not give a clear answer to NBC News’ questions. and lifelike synthetic models.
Still, no one — including Revilla — thinks the digital and synthetic alternatives will fully supplant the need for human specimens anytime soon. Doctors still will need to practice sawing into bone and suturing muscles. Each human is uniquely shaped, and that variability is key to teaching medical professionals the range of what to expect.
This training was so essential to Boston Scientific that the company wrestled with whether to cancel a September class at the Health Science Center after learning about its use of unclaimed bodies.