Already banned from doing autopsies, Kansas man must stop offering COVID-19 services
A Johnson County man temporarily banned from providing autopsy services in Kansas has now also been banned from providing services related to COVID-19, the Kansas Attorney General announced Tuesday.
Shawn Parcells, of Leawood, and affiliated companies are under an expanded restraining order that prohibits Parcells from offering any services of the human body, including the “healing arts, epidemiology, infectious disease, coronavirus, COVID-19.”
Last week, the Shawnee County District Court found Parcells formed new businesses and websites offering consulting for the coronavirus and that it “amounted to deceptive or unconscionable misrepresentations” that violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, according to a news release from the office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Parcells was offering to perform swabs for COVID-19 testing and examine those who had died to see if they tested positive, according to the attorney general.
Parcells’ attorney, Eric Kjorliem, said Parcells is not appealing the temporary restraining order at this time.
“He is a tissue recovery specialist,” Kjorliem said. “There’s not too many other people in the country who could do a better job . . . He wants to be science-minded and he wants to continue to be involved in that area of epidemiology and public health.”
Kjorliem compared Parcells’ situation to that of Galileo Galilei, the 17th century Italian astronomer who was accused of heresy by church officials but has since been called the “father of modern physics.”
“Galileo was attacked because his science was not accepted,” Kjorliem said. “But . . . when you open up the package, it was science. So we’re getting blow back from people who aren’t scientists and not from people who are in the field.”
Parcells has been accused of tricking families and performing illegal autopsies. Last year he was charged in Wabaunsee County with three counts of felony theft and three misdemeanor counts of criminal desecration.
A civil lawsuit alleges 14 violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act involving three consumers.
The court order issued Tuesday also found Parcells in contempt of court, for the third time during the civil litigation, for violating the existing restraining order.
In November, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment seized biological samples stored by Parcells to release to family members who asked for them.
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 6:21 PM.
