Biological Resource Center: The Arizona Body Donation Case

Biological Resource Center (BRC) was a for-profit body donation company in Phoenix, Arizona. Families gave it the bodies of people they loved, believing they would be used for medical research. BRC sold them instead, whole or in parts, to buyers that included researchers, device makers and, in some cases, US Army blast tests. The FBI raided it in January 2014. Its owner, Stephen Gore, pleaded guilty in October 2015 to illegally conducting an enterprise and was sentenced to probation. In November 2019 a civil jury awarded 10 donor families $58.5 million (Arizona Court of Appeals, 15 February 2022).

That is the short answer if you searched "Biological Resource Center Arizona".

This case is different from most funeral scandals. Here, families did agree to donation. They signed the forms. The deception was in what "donation" turned out to mean. If you are thinking of giving your body to science, this page will help you read the form you sign.

This story includes some upsetting details about how donated bodies were used. We keep them brief, and include them only where they help you protect your own wishes.

A signed form and a box of ashes

Imagine your mother has Alzheimer's. She dies in hospice. You want something good to come from her illness. A company offers to take her body for medical research. It will collect her for free and return her ashes for free. You fill in the paperwork. Ten days later, a wooden box arrives.

That is close to what one Arizona son described (The Washington Post, 20 November 2019). He hoped his mother's brain would help Alzheimer's research. He told the BBC that on BRC's consent form he specifically ticked "no" when asked whether her body could be used to test explosives (BBC, 6 August 2019).

Years later, a Reuters reporter contacted him. Reuters had found that more than 20 bodies donated to an Arizona broker were used in US Army blast experiments, without the consent of the donors or their families. His mother was one of them, CBS News reported, citing Reuters (CBS News, 1 August 2019). "I don't see a pathway of ever getting past this," he told a local TV station.

Would you have read the form more carefully? Maybe. But he did read it. He ticked the box. It did not protect her.

How this differs from Sunset Mesa

In our case study on Sunset Mesa Funeral Home, a Colorado funeral home took bodies families had paid to cremate and sold them without permission. Many families never agreed to donation at all.

The BRC families did agree. They chose donation on purpose, as a gift to science. So the questions here are different:

• What did the consent form say?
• What did the company tell families it would do?
• What did it actually do?
• And why was so much of it legal?

What BRC promised, and what the record shows

What families were told	What the record shows	Source
BRC would not sell bodies; it charged only a processing fee	"Contrary to that representation, however, BRC sold the donated specimens"	Arizona Court of Appeals, 15 February 2022
Bodies would be used for medical research	Some remains were sold for military testing "such as crashes and explosions"	AP, 19 November 2019
Families' choices on the consent form would be respected	Gore admitted his firm "used the donations counter to the wishes of the donors"	AP, 19 November 2019
Specimens were fit for research	Gore admitted supplying contaminated tissue; some parts known to be infectious were shipped without declaring the hazard	DOT Office of Inspector General, 11 December 2015
Families would receive their loved one's ashes	Some families got boxes of what they thought were ashes, then learned the bodies had been sold or were still at the facility	AP, 19 November 2019

The federal transport investigators summed up Gore's admissions in plain words. He admitted "fraudulently acquiring 'willed-to-science' cadaver parts from unwitting and non-consenting donors, for the purposes of dismemberment and sale" to medical researchers, equipment developers and drug companies (DOT OIG, 11 December 2015).

The money machine

BRC's model had two sides.

The free side, for families. BRC "offered free transport services to pick up bodies and free cremation, making it appealing to low-income families," the BBC reported. A funeral can cost thousands. For a family with little money, free cremation plus the feeling of helping science is a strong offer.

The paid side, for buyers. Bodies and parts went to universities, medical device makers and drug companies. At trial, jurors were shown BRC's price list. A torso without a head was listed at $4,000 (AP, 19 November 2019). Reuters found BRC sold donated bodies for $5,893 each, and that over a decade it sold more than 20,000 parts from about 5,000 bodies, CBS News reported.

The word that made it work. Selling bodies for transplant is banned in the US. But companies may charge a "reasonable" fee to "process" a body: removal, storage, transport and disposal. What counts as reasonable "is also open to interpretation," the BBC noted. BRC told donors it charged only a processing fee. The appeals court later recorded that it sold the specimens.

One body can be divided into many parts. Each part can be sold separately, to a different buyer. That is why a single donation can be worth far more to a broker than the cost of a free cremation.

Who was behind it, and what he said

Stephen Gore founded Biological Resource Center, Inc. in 2003 (Arizona Court of Appeals).

The raid. In January 2014, FBI employees in hazardous-material suits searched the facility. The investigation involved the FBI, the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Transportation's inspector general.

The plea. In October 2015, Gore pleaded guilty to a state charge of illegally conducting an enterprise. In doing so, he acknowledged that his firm "provided vendors with human tissue that was contaminated and used the donations counter to the wishes of the donors" (AP).

The sentence. On 11 December 2015, a Maricopa County judge gave him a 12-month suspended sentence, 48 months of probation and an order to pay $122,000 in restitution (DOT OIG). He did not go to prison.

His side. In a letter to the sentencing judge, Gore said he should have been more involved in supervising his employees and could have been more open about the donation process, AP reported. In the civil case, he denied the families' allegations. His lawyer argued that "clients signed consent forms granting permission to dissect donated bodies, and that it was legal for the facility to make a profit."

That last argument matters. Parts of it were true. The families had signed forms. Making a profit was not illegal. The jury still found BRC liable, because of what families were told and what was done against their stated wishes.

What the families won, and kept

In November 2019, a jury in Maricopa County heard the families' civil case. It found for 10 of the 21 plaintiffs. It awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages against Gore (Arizona Court of Appeals). The families' lawyer believed the other 11 lost because they did not testify, AP reported.

One mother, whose son's remains were sold for military testing, was awarded $6.5 million. The lead plaintiff, a widow, testified that she would not have allowed her husband's donation had she known his remains would be sold for profit. She doubts the ashes she received were his.

Gore's lawyers later persuaded the trial judge to cut the punitive damages to $8.5 million. On 15 February 2022, the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed that. It said the request came too late, and sent the case back to re-enter the original judgment.

The families' lawyers had already said Gore was not likely to be able to pay a large award. They brought the case to hold him accountable. "It sends a message to others that don't want to be honest or trick people into doing this," one said.

There was another limit. Families also sued a separate Illinois company that had worked with BRC. An Arizona court held that it was a distinct business and could not be tried in Arizona, a 2026 legal review notes (Johnson, PMC, 2026). Bodies cross state lines easily. Lawsuits do not.

Why so much of this was legal

Most people assume selling a donated body is a crime. For research and teaching, in most of the US, it is not.

The main donation law, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, controls who can make a gift and for what general purpose. But it "does not address consent disclosures, specific uses, transfers, tracking, most aspects of final disposition or profit model," Brandi Schmitt, who runs anatomical services at the University of California, told the BBC. "It's beyond time for additional regulation including a clear authorisation and consent process," she said.

Arizona acted after the BRC scandal. Its 2016 laws require body procurement organisations to be licensed by the state Department of Health Services, with exceptions such as academic institutions that train health workers. A licence needs national accreditation or must meet extra state rules. And if a consent form uses only general words like "donor" or "body donor," the gift may be used for transplant or therapy, not for education and research (Johnson, PMC, 2026).

But Arizona "did not prohibit buying and selling for education or research, meaning for-profit companies can still operate legally," the same review says. A federal bill to regulate the trade, the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act, was reintroduced in 2025 and has not moved.

So the protection still sits mostly in one place: the form you sign.

University programme or private broker?

Both can be legal. They work very differently.

Question	Typical university willed-body programme	Private, for-profit body broker
Who runs it?	A medical school or state anatomy board	A company
Main use	Mostly teaching medical students, the BBC notes	Whatever buyers pay for: in BRC's case, research, device makers, drug companies and some military tests
Can parts be sold on?	Ask in writing	BRC sold parts while describing its charges as "processing fees"
Is it accredited?	Ask; academic programmes may be exempt from state licensing	Accreditation (for example by the American Association of Tissue Banks) is voluntary

The University of California's anatomy lead put the key test simply: "Anyone considering donation for education and research should ensure they know the purpose of the organisations to which they are donating, whether it is an academic institution, a state anatomy board, a private company" (BBC).

How to read a body donation form

Our Sunset Mesa case study covers how to choose a programme and sign up safely. Here we focus on the form itself, because that is where the BRC families were let down.

1. Look for a list of uses, with a box for each. Teaching, surgical training, device testing, research, military or vehicle safety testing. If the form has only one line that says "medical research," ask for detail in writing.

2. Look for the word "transfer." Can the programme pass your body, or parts of it, to another organisation? To a company? Abroad? If yes, who checks that your limits travel with it?

3. Look for the money words. "Processing fee," "cost recovery," "service fee." Ask: "Do you receive money from anyone who uses my body? Roughly how much?" An honest programme will answer.

4. Check who signs for the programme. Is it a university department or a company? Search the company name with the words "lawsuit" and "consent."

5. Ask how your limits are tracked. If you tick "no" to something, how does that "no" follow your body? Ask whether each part carries an ID that links back to your file.

6. Ask about the ashes. When will they come back? To whom? How do they make sure they are yours? Can your family ask for a record of what happened?

7. Keep a copy. A signed copy belongs with your other planning papers. Without it, your family cannot prove what you agreed.

8. Treat "free" as a question. Free collection and free cremation are not wrong in themselves. But ask who pays for them, and why.

Red flags you can check yourself

• The programme is a private company and you cannot find a university or hospital link.
• It will not tell you, in writing, whether parts can be sold or transferred.
• Its form has no way to say no to specific uses.
• It cannot name its accrediting body, or says accreditation "doesn't apply."
• It offers free cremation and asks you to sign quickly, in the first hours after a death.

None of these proves wrongdoing. Each is a reason to slow down and ask.

The honest lesson

Giving your body to science is a generous act. Doctors learn from donors. Patients benefit. The BRC case does not change that. It shows that generosity needs clear words around it.

Death will come for each of us. Deciding now what happens to your body is a quiet kindness to the people you leave. They will not have to guess, or sign something in a hurry, at the worst moment of their lives.

Here is what to do this week:

• Decide yes or no to donation. Both are fine choices.
• If yes, choose the programme yourself. Read the form with the checklist above.
• Write your limits in your own words, and attach them to the form and to your wishes.
• Tell your family what you chose, and where the papers are.

Our free end-of-life readiness check shows what is still missing from your plans. Our guide on how to write a living will covers putting your wishes in writing. The Complete Planning Library includes a "my wishes" worksheet where you can record your decision on body donation, and a "where to find everything" list so your family can find the signed form. It costs $39, once, with a 30-day refund. It cannot regulate body brokers. It can make your own choice clear and hard to ignore.