At Death Our Bodies Should Not Be Considered Public Property

Public Property

Property owned by the government or one of its agencies, divisions, or entities. Commonly a reference to parks, playgrounds, streets, sidewalks, schools, libraries and other property regularly used by the general public.

The Human Tissue Act 2004

The current law regarding the use of any tissue or organ is the Human Tissue Act 2004. This has replaced the Human Tissue Act 1961, the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Organ Transplants Act 1989.

This Act makes consent the fundamental principle underpinning the lawful storage and use of body parts, organs and tissue from the living or deceased for specified health-related purposes and public display. It lists the purposes for which consent is required. The Human Tissue Act is based upon consent in England, Wales and Northern Island. In Scotland the Human Tissue Act has a stronger emphasis on authorisation than on consent.

Main point of the Human Tissue Act 2004

• The Act controls the removal, storage and use of human tissue. This is defined as material from a human body and consists/includes, human cells.

• The Act creates a new offence of DNA 'theft'. If it is taken from living human tissue for DNA analysis it must be with the consent from whom the tissue came.

• The Act makes it lawful to preserve the organs of a deceased person for use in transplantation while steps are taken to determine the wishes of the deceased, or, in the absence of their known wishes, obtaining consent from someone in an appropriate relationship.

• The Act gives specified museums in England discretionary power for them to hand over human remains of person/persons who died less than 1000 years ago.

Offences under the Human Tissue Act

Offences that existed in the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Organ Transplantation Act 1989 have been carried forward into the Human Tissue Act 2004 and are all are enforceable in 2006. Penalties range from a fine to up to three years' imprisonment.

• A licence is required from the Human Tissue Authority to carry out such licensable activities.

• The removing, storing or using human tissue for Scheduled Purposes without appropriate consent, including donated tissue.

• Trafficking in human tissue for transplantation purposes.

• Having human tissue, with the intention of its DNA being analysed without the consent of the person from whom the tissue came or of those close to the

deceased. (Medical diagnosis and treatment, criminal investigations are

excluded.)

Slide 2 Alder Hey Scandal

Between 1988 and 1996 organs were stripped from the dead bodies of babies and children without CONSENT.

In total 2,080 hearts, more than 800 organs from children and 400 foetuses where taken and kept at Alder Hey children’s hospital.

In 1 case thymus glands were given to a pharmaceutical company for research purposes and in return a cash reward was received.

1 of the most disturbing discoveries from this case was the fact that during the 1960’s the severed head of an 11 year old boy was taken and stored in a glass jar.

This case involves many ethical issues:

• The organs were taken without the CONSENT of the families involved

• There was a lack of respect for the bodies of the dead children and the families involved

• Parents had to go through multiple burials when the organs and tissues from their children were returned, once again putting them through the emotional stress and pain that they had been trying to get over

• This affected many people’s religious views. For example one parented quoted “ I believed that my child had had a Christian burial” when in fact she had buried an empty shell

The consequences to this case included the dismissal and conviction of certain practitioners involved but ultimately focused on the Human tissue Act disallowing doctors from making the decision to take organs themselves.

The initial Human Tissue Act (1961) has now been replaced by the (2004) Act.

Slide 3 Importance of the body

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