Death and dying

Nearly a dozen of families learned that their relatives’ bodies had been used for medical research not from a medical examiner, hospital or police officer — but from NBC News and Noticias Telemundo.

Boston Scientific’s Relievant Medsystems used at least 25 unclaimed bodies for training, including that of a murdered 21-year-old woman whose family was fighting to bring her home. The company said it didn’t know.

Aurimar Iturriago Villegas left Venezuela hoping to lift her family out of poverty. When she was murdered, her corpse became a commodity in the U.S. body trade.

Karen Wandel was stunned at what happened when her family failed to claim her father’s body after his death. Supplying unclaimed bodies for medical research is widely considered unethical, and most major medical schools have halted the practice — and yet it continues.

A disgraced chiropractor who was selling bodies faces allegations that he mishandled human remains.

Former marine Daniel Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely in New York.

John Tinniswood passed away at age 112 on Monday in Southport, England.

A funeral was held Wednesday for the pop singer who died in Buenos Aires at the age of 31.

State regulators have ordered a Texas medical school to immediately halt its practice of liquefying bodies after using them for training and research.

Simon Cowell is mourning the loss of Liam Payne. The 65-year-old, who has a long history with Liam having played a role in the creation of One Direction, took to Instagram to pay tribute to the late singer.

Simon Cowell mourned the loss of Liam Payne, whose rise to fame on “The X Factor” Cowell helped orchestrate.

Louis Tomlinson is mourning the loss of his former One Direction bandmate.

Police in Peru say they have found the body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago as he tried to climb one of the highest peaks in the Andes. Police say they found the body of William Stampfl on Friday near a camp 5200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level. The 58-year-old Stampfl had...

Georgie Campbell, a British event rider, died after falling from her horse during a competition at the Bicton International Horse Trials on May 26.

Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian who became one of the world’s most esteemed contemporary authors, has died at age 92.

A Florida-based charity champions a novel approach to turning the death of a loved one into a life-sustaining memorial.

When Kailey Newkirk’s mother passed away unexpectedly, her family was at a loss at how she would want to be memorialized. But her mother’s final Facebook post pointed them to a surprising trend in funeral services: coral reef memorials. “It made so much sense that she would want to support marine life habitat when she passed,” Newkirk says. “Mostly because...

The Delaware Senate has given final approval to a bill allowing the composting of human bodies as an alternative to burial or cremation.

Craig Roh, a former college football standout at the University of Michigan, died of colon cancer at age 33.

The U.S. has no federal bereavement leave policy, but workers in mourning still have options. Here’s what they should know.