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title: New York Pays Up for Donating Grandma&#x27;s Body to Science
description: A New York family has received a $115,000 settlement from the city after a Bronx morgue accidently donated corpse to a medical school.
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article:published_time: 2015-07-23T23:12:55.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:22:29.136Z
og:title: New York Pays Up for Accidentally Donating Grandma&#x27;s Body
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twitter:title: New York Pays Up for Accidentally Donating Grandma&#x27;s Body
twitter:description: A Bronx morgue accidently donated corpse to a medical school, family got $115k
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# New York Pays Family $115,000 Settlement After Accidentally Donating Grandma's Body to Science

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by 

[Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/)


## Maya Rhodan


Jul 23, 2015 11:12 PM UTC

by 

[Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/)


## Maya Rhodan


Jul 23, 2015 11:12 PM UTC

A New York family has received a $115,000 settlement from the city after a Bronx morgue accidentally donated their mother’s corpse to a medical school.

The New York [_Daily News_](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-nyc-pays-115g-corpse-screw-up-bronx-morgue-article-1.2301340) reported Thursday that 85-year-old Aura Ballesteros died in May 2014, but instead of holding her body while her children arranged a funeral, the morgue sent her body off to be used for research.

According to the _Daily News_, the state of New York has the right to either bury or donate a body that hasn’t been claimed after 14 days. When Ballesteros family discovered what had happened, too, her body had already been embalmed. Her son testified that she was nearly unrecognizable.

A new law would prevent this kind of incident from occurring in the future by requiring family consent before donating a body for research.

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