With the “Bodies Revealed” exhibit in its final days here, Union Station officials now acknowledge a donation form they provided to the press months ago was not authentic.
Union Station CEO Andi Udris said officials learned of the mistake in March, shortly after the exhibit opened, and prepared a statement of explanation then. But the station did not release it, because questions about the form were not raised publicly at the time, he said.
“We frankly plumb forgot about it,” Udris said. “I don’t want it to appear that we were trying to hide or mislead anybody on it.”
Union Station said it received the anatomical donation form from Premier Exhibitions, the company that produced the traveling show containing real human cadavers. Station officials said an employee of Premier told them it was an English translation of the actual form signed by the Chinese people whose bodies are on display in “Bodies Revealed.”
The Kansas City Star posted the donation form on its Web site in February after a report on ABC’s “20/20” alleged some of the bodies Premier used in its shows may have been from Chinese prisoners.
Premier also has said the subject of the ABC report was a separate exhibit they produced called “Bodies: The Exhibition” and not “Bodies Revealed” at Union Station.
The Catholic Key, a publication of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, posted a report on its Web site this month saying Premier disavowed the authenticity of the donor form given to Union Station but maintained it had an affidavit from the supplier that the bodies were from willing donors.
Udris said Premier confirmed that the form given to Union Station by a Premier employee was not signed by Chinese donors. The station, however, continues to cite Premier’s sworn affidavit and “continues to rely on the good faith” of its relationship with the company.
The Catholic Key has also raised questions about the reliability of the affidavit.
The public relations director for Premier last week referred inquiries to Brian Wainger, the company’s general counsel. But Wainger said this week he had resigned his position with Premier and, while remaining a consultant, did not know whether he was authorized to speak for the company.