Politics & Government
Cook County to Donate Bodies to Science
If families can't afford burial, bodies will be donated for medical research.
Bodies left for more than two weeks at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office will be donated to medical research if the families can't afford a burial, according to a Sun-Times Media report.
According to the chief medical examiner Dr. Nancy Jones, the policy is "effective immediately."
Under the new policy, the medical examiner's office is obligated to notify the family that the remains will be released to the Anatomic Gift Assocation within two weeks of the body having being received at the morgue.
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The county will, however, bury bodies if they are decomposed, infected with the AIDS virus as well as bodies that weigh more than 300 pounds.
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