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They thought they were holding their loved one one last time, then they learned the urn held concrete. We’re walking through the Return to Nature Funeral Home scandal in Colorado, where investigators say nearly 190 bodies were left to decompose in a Penrose building while grieving families were told cremations and burials were complete. It’s one of those true crime stories that doesn’t just horrify you, it makes you re-check what you assume is regulated, inspected, and safe in the funeral industry.
Resources:

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/former-funeral-home-owner-sentenced-18-years-prison-giving-families-fake-ashe​​

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/colorado-ex-funeral-home-owner-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison-after-pleading-guilty-to-fraud

https://people.com/funeral-home-owner-sentenced-after-defrauding-grieving-families-with-fake-ashes-11927805

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/national/2026/03/16/ex-funeral-home-owner-faces-20-in-prison-after-giving-families-fake-ashes/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/us/colorado-funeral-home-owner-sentenced

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-03-16/ex-funeral-home-owner-faces-20-in-prison-after-giving-families-fake-ashes

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex

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The scariest part of modern medicine isn’t always the unknown, it’s the moment you realize the system can build momentum before certainty feels complete. We’re talking about organ donation disasters and near misses that force one brutal question: how do we know someone is truly dead when organ procurement is on the clock? Using the reported case of TJ Hoover in Kentucky, we trace how a single story can crack public trust, especially when families say they saw signs of life and later reporting suggests professionals inside the process had concerns too.

If this raises questions for you, we want to hear them. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find Doctoring the Truth.

Resources:

LEX 18, “KY man wakes during organ harvesting procedure, prompting federal investigation.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “HHS Finds Systemic Disregard for Sanctity of Life in Organ Transplant System; Announces Major Initiative for Reform.”

UNOS, “Understanding Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD).”

UNOS, “U.S. surpassed 48,000 organ transplants in 2024.”

House Energy and Commerce Committee, “Ensuring Patient Safety: Oversight of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplant System.”

ABC News, “Patient ‘Wakes Up’ as Doctors Prepare to Remove Organs.”
Oklahoma Gazette, “Oklahoma man who lived through being pronounced dead appears on Today.”

Support the show

Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!

Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!

Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:

*thecuminclub.com for 30% off

*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off

*www.handful.com for 30% off

*www.standshoes.com for 15% off

*www.oldglory.com for 15% off

*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off

*https://mollybz.com for 10% off

*www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off

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A cheerful bedside smile is supposed to mean safety. That’s why the case of Jane Toppin, nicknamed “Jolly Jane,” still hits like a gut punch more than a century later. We walk through how a Boston woman born Honora Kelly could become one of America’s earliest notorious female serial killers while working as a nurse, using charm as cover and exploiting the gaps of late-1800s medical oversight.

We trace her early life through poverty, loss, institutionalization, and being indentured as a child in the Toppin home where she’s even given a new name. Then we follow her into nursing, a profession that gave her something she craved: access, authority, and trust. From there, the story turns dark fast, with discussions of morphine and atropine poisoning, her reported fascination with convulsions, and how patients who were elderly or isolated could become targets with few questions asked. We also talk through her arrest, her unnerving candor, and the trial that ends with an insanity verdict that sparks strong reactions.

Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: what systems would you want in place to catch the unthinkable sooner?

RESOURCES:

Advanced Science News

ETH zurich

Schecter, Harold. “Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer.” HarperCollins, 1992.

McBrayer, Mary Kay. “America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster.” Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

Morbid Podcast, “Jolly Jane” two-part series. https://morbidpodcast.com/

Boston Daily Globe archives, 19th century reporting on Jane Toppan.

Taunton Insane Hospital records, Massachusetts Archives.

Bartleby Criminal History Resources: https://www.bartleby.com/docs/crime/jane-toppan.html

Early 20th-century nursing journals, Massachusetts Historical Society archives.

Support the show

Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!

Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!

Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:

*thecuminclub.com for 30% off

*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off

*www.handful.com for 30% off

*www.standshoes.com for 15% off

*www.oldglory.com for 15% off

*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off

*https://mollybz.com for 10% off

*www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off

*klearprotein.com for 20% off

*www.torrain.org for 15% off

*www.cozyearth.com for 40% off