body broker

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A body broker (also non-transplant tissue banks) is a firm or an individual that buys and sells cadavers or human body parts.

Whereas the market for organ transplantation is heavily regulated in the United States, the use of cadaver parts for research, training, and other uses is not. Trade in these body parts is performed in a manner akin to raw materials, though many brokers say they charge fees as opposed to selling body parts.[https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-brokers/ In the U.S. market for human bodies, almost anyone can dissect and sell the dead], Reuters, Brian Grow and John Shiffman, 25 October 2017

Whereas body snatching was a common way of acquiring bodies for research up until the 20th century, modern body brokers usually receive cadavers via body donation.Garment, Ann, et al. "Let the dead teach the living: the rise of body bequeathal in 20th-century America." Academic Medicine 82.10 (2007): 1000-1005. Body brokers often offer free cremation as a means to induce donation from families who are unable to pay funeral costs, returning ashes of part of the body to the next of kin.[https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-cody/ A Reuters journalist bought human body parts, then learned a donor's heart-wrenching story], Reuters, Brian Grow and John Shiffman, 25 October 2017 In some cases body brokers obtain bodies fraudulently by stating use of the donation for research, subsequently reselling the body for profit.[https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodybrokers-industry/ How the body of an Arizona great-grandmother ended up as part of a U.S. Army blast test], Reuters, John Shiffman, 23 December 2016

Body brokers also obtain cadavers and body parts from institutions who receive donations and have a surplus. In some cases, this is done illegally against the donor's wishes or by employees who act independently of the institution. In 2004, the UCLA Willed Body Program was suspended for a year after a scheme for the sale of body parts for profit involving its director at the time Henry Reid and body broker named Ernest Nelson was uncovered.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702124.html 2 Charged in UCLA Cadaver Scandal], Washington Post AP wire, Robert Jablon, 7 March 2007[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/us/in-science-s-name-lucrative-trade-in-body-parts.html In Science's Name, Lucrative Trade in Body Parts], New York Times, Sandra Blakeslee, John M. Broder, Charlie Leduff, Andrew Pollack, 12 March 2004 The scheme yielded some 1.5 million dollars in profits. Reid and Nelson were subsequently convicted for theft and related tax offenses and were sentenced to 4 and 10 years respectively.[https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Cadaver-Body-Parts-Supplier-Gets-10-Years.html Human Body Parts Supplier Gets 10 Years], NBC LA[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-15-me-willedbody15-story.html Businessman found guilty in UCLA's willed body-parts program scandal], LA Times, Jack Leonard 15 May 2009[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-18-me-willedbody18-story.html Guilty plea in cadaver scheme at UCLA], LA Times, Victoria Kim, October 18, 2008