An Iowa hospital harvested a 69-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran’s “organs, skin tissue and eyes” without authorization from him or his next of kin, a lawsuit says.
Staff at CHI Health-Missouri Valley, which also does business as Alegent Health Community Memorial Hospital, made “no attempt to contact” Martin Gillespie’s next of kin for permission to collect his “anatomical gifts of his body,” according to the family’s legal complaint, which was obtained by Law&Crime and filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
“On April 1, 2026, decedent arrived via Missouri Valley Fire and Rescue to defendant’s hospital and was pronounced deceased,” the complaint recounts. “During his lifetime, decedent did not authorize anatomical gifts of his body in any manner.”…