Despite their wishes, an unknown number of people who donated their bodies to New York University School of Medicine ended up in mass graves on New York's Hart Island, where unclaimed bodies and indigent people are buried, an investigation by The New York Times has revealed.
One such body was that of Marie Muscarnera, who worked her way up from poverty and after her death at age 91, donated $1.3 million to charity — $691,700 of which was donated to NYU medical school, according to the report. Ms. Muscarnera donated her body to science and it ended up on Hart Island, despite her wishes to be cremated and have the remains buried or spread in a dignified manner.
Researchers looked at a database of 62,000 Hart Island burials compiled by volunteers to find several cases linked to NYU, according to the report. They found the practice of burying bodies on Hart Island against the wishes of the donors continued up until 2013, according to the report. Unfortunately, they are unable to determine an exact number of people who were buried there due to the loss of records during Hurricane Sandy, and because the former and longtime program director Bruce Bogart, MD, now has dementia, according to the report.
Lisa Greiner, a spokeswoman for NYU Langone Medical Center, said she is unable to explain why this happened, but it stemmed in part from forms sent to family members in which executors checked off a box that said the family did not want the ashes returned, according to the report.
Mel Rosenfeld, the senior associate dean for medical education at NYU provided The New York Times with the following statement: "We sincerely regret any actions on our part that did not reflect the wishes of those altruistic donors and their families who willingly donated their remains for medical education," he said. "In 2013, we instituted major changes to our disposition practices for donor remains that will ensure that we honor the donors' wishes with regard to their remains."
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