Family Gets $115,000 From NYC For Sending Corpse To Medical School For Research

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The family of a woman whose corpse mistakenly wound up at a medical school for research has received $115,000 from New York City.

Aura Ballesteros, 85, died in May 2014 at a Bronx nursing home.

Her son, Hector Ballesteros, made arrangements for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner to hold the former psychologist's body until family could travel to New York from Colombia.

But instead, Ballesteros was sent to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University "to be used for medical students," the family's lawyer said.

When the woman's corpse was returned to the family, she had been embalmed and did not look like herself, Hector Ballesteros said. He said there was a large wound on Ballesteros' neck and injuries to her legs.

The medical examiner's office said a new state law is pending that would require family consent before releasing a body to a medical or embalming school.

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