Body brokering is the little-regulated industry of collecting and selling body parts for profit. Reuters news agency spent the past two years investigating the business nationally. What they found was a grisly trade that body donors often stumble into, confusing profit-making enterprises with giving bodies to scientific institutions or organs to medical patients.
One story in the national series led Reuters reporters to the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose and its side business, Donor Services. Donor Services collects and sells body parts. Its cremation website includes an "add to cart" dropdown list of body parts.
Sunset Mesa is the only combination funeral home/crematory/body broker business in the country, Reuters investigative reporter John Shiffman tells Colorado Matters. Even though cutting up cadavers and selling parts is not illegal, combining this with mortuary services has raised ethical concerns and sparked a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.
