Man finds out mother's remains, donated for medical research, included blast testing

A Phoenix man has made a shocking discovery -- his mother's remains which were donated, he hoped for medical research.

But Jim Stauffer's mother's remains were not used to help find a cure for a disease, KNXV reported.

Instead, the body of 73-year-old Doris Stauffer was sold by Biological Resource Center to the U.S. Army for blast testing.

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Within 45 minutes of Doris Stauffer's death, the company came to pick up her body. Jim Stauffer signed paperwork that spelled out what was going to be done with her.

A few days later, he had a box with some of what he was told were his mother's remains and ID number.

But Reuters found out what really happened to Doris Stauffer.

Her body was used to find out what happens when a person is riding in a vehicle and is hit by an improvised explosive device, Jim Stauffer found out thanks to a reporter from Reuters.

Jim Stauffer said the paperwork he signed had a field that the family had to grant permission for the company to perform tests that could use explosives. He said that he selected no.

He is now suing Biologic Resource Center and owner Stephen Gore, who pleaded guilty to running an illegal enterprise in 2015, KNXV reported.

Gore was sentenced to probation.

Reuters examined the cases of more than 2,280 people whose bodies were donated to Biologic Resource Center and tracked where body parts, which were harvested by the company by its employees, went.

The civil case is expected to be in court in October, KNXV reported.

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