Body Donated To Science Rejected

Wife Mourns Loss Of Husband, Worries About Burial Expenses

Kissimmee, Florida -- A local woman was grieving the loss of her husband Thursday and wondering how she'll cover his burial expenses.

According to Judy Frowein, her husband's extremely low weight was the reason that his body was not accepted for scientific research.

But paperwork from MedCure of Portland, Ore., didn't match up with the explanation.


"I was totally destroyed," Frowein said.

Frowein was emotionally destroyed twice. Her husband, John, a man featured in a WESH 2 News 2010 report when he was having trouble obtaining a valid Social Security card died Sept. 9.

A company called MedCure had signed papers to accept John Frowein's body donation for scientific research in exchange for paying his cremation expenses.

But the day John Frowein died, MedCure rejected his donation and terminated the deal.

"I blanked out. I was just totally, mentally destroyed," Judy Frowein said. "My husband was dead in the house. I had no place to send him to."

Judy Frowein said an employee at Vitas Hospice provided her the information on MedCure, even though after the man died, other workers said MedCure had rejected other body donations from this place.

She shared the brochure she received, and it did indicate severely under or overweight people may be rejected, but the donor consent form she filled out only ruled out severely obese people.

John Frowein weighed 95 pounds when he died.

"They said, Sorry, he has to be over 140 pounds,' and they would not take him," Judy Frowein said. "I was upset and angry over the way I was treated."

A MedCure spokeswoman said the consent form is not a promise to accept a body and pay the expenses for cremation.

"We cannot accept a donor until after they pass. When death occurs, that is when we decide ... There is no guarantee of acceptance at the time a donor states his or her intentions," MedCure representative Valere Beck said in a statement.

Judy Frowein was suddenly left with a $1,700 bill for her husband's cremation and had bitter words of advice to others considering whole body donation.

"Beware," Judy Frowein said. "Don't do it."

There was a mix of online reviews for MedCura. One person described the company as the "least respected" in the industry. Another said an experience with MedCure was "wonderful."

A spokeswoman for Vitas Hospice Care said it is not company policy to provide information about body donation.

SOURCE