Kansas man barred from performing autopsies after criminal charges filed last week
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the office that filed criminal charges.
A Leawood man whose controversial autopsy practice prompted criminal charges last week has been temporarily banned from doing business in Kansas.
Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis on Monday granted a temporary restraining order that prohibits Shawn Parcells, 37, and his affiliated companies from conducting autopsies, forensic pathology and tissue recovery services in the state, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Tuesday in a news release. The ban is in effect until a civil lawsuit alleging Parcells violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and Kansas False Claims Act is resolved. Schmidt’s office filed the lawsuit last week.
The lawsuit accuses Parcells of advertising private autopsy services on his website, www.nationalautopsyservices.com, and accepting payments from customers without actually performing the autopsies. He also failed to complete coroner-ordered autopsies for Wabaunsee County after entering into a contract to do so, the petition alleges. The suit alleges 14 law violations involving three customers.
Recent news reports state that more than 20 families across the country are unhappy with Parcells’ work.
Last week, the attorney general’s office charged Parcells with three felony counts of theft and three misdemeanor counts of criminal desecration of a body.
This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 3:21 PM.
