Australia: Search for families of people whose body parts possibly kept without consent at a museum in Tasmania

[TootsieFootsie]

MSN

Search for families of people whose body parts possibly kept without consent at museum​

Yesterday, the Coroner's Court released the names of 125 people on its website as it searches for their next of kin.

The people died between 1966 to 1984 and are from either Tasmania or New Zealand.

 

[Bigditch]

Body parts. Museum.
Weird attraction--if in fact they were on display.

 

[iamshadow21]

Body parts. Museum.
Weird attraction--if in fact they were on display.

It specifies in the article that it is a medical museum. I imagine most of its collection is medical specimens of some description, including human parts and remains.

MOO

 

[Bigditch]

It specifies in the article that it is a medical museum. I imagine most of its collection is medical specimens of some description, including human parts and remains.

MOO

Okay, that makes more sense. Still weird though.

 

[iamshadow21]

Okay, that makes more sense. Still weird though.

It's not a museum you'd have toddlers running around, it specifies that it's a university museum. Think of it more as an academic collection; it's entirely possible it's only accessed by students and staff.

MOO

 

[Bigditch]

It's not a museum you'd have toddlers running around, it specifies that it's a university museum. Think of it more as an academic collection; it's entirely possible it's only accessed by students and staff.

It's the part that says, 'without consent' I find a bit uneasy.

 

[iamshadow21]

It's the part that says, 'without consent' I find a bit uneasy.

And that's why the museum is reaching out, now. It's not acceptable practice any more. A lot of places are going to be going over their collections and trying to find provenance.

The mid twentieth century a lot of this went on. Henrietta Lacks is probably the one individual whose unconsenting samples made the biggest difference in the history of medicine. It was still unethical.

MOO

 

[misskiki]

I live in Tasmaniia and none of this has been in the local news. This worries me.

 

[CatsnChickens]

HeLa cells still widely used today

The mid twentieth century a lot of this went on. Henrietta Lacks is probably the one individual whose unconsenting samples made the biggest difference in the history of medicine. It was still unethical.

Edinburgh has one of these museums and you can pay to go into it. Very interesting if a bit grim in places

 

[TootsieFootsie]

MSN

ABC Health ABC News Australia

Body parts taken for decades without consent, for display at UTAS museum, coroner finds​

Pathologists working in Tasmania between 1966 and 1991 may have "actively sourced" body parts from coronial autopsies to give to a museum without the knowledge or consent of families — or of the coroners who were responsible for the bodies when the specimens were taken — a coroner has found.

Coroner Simon Cooper has released his findings from an investigation into 177 specimens held in the collection of the R A Rodda Museum of Pathology at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

The investigation started in 2016, after the museum contacted the Coroners' Office with concerns about three specimens it had in its collection that appeared to have been retained without the consent of families or the coroner.

"It appears at this stage that now-dead forensic pathologist Dr Royal Cummings was the person who provided the large majority of coronial specimens to the museum," Mr Cooper said.

"However, it also appears that his predecessors and successors also engaged in the practice.

"It also appears that pathologists may have actively sourced specimens from coronial autopsies to give to the museum, as well as providing specimens that had been retained for forensic purposes under the Coroners Act 1957."

Coronial autopsies are autopsies that form part of coronial investigations. Generally, coroners investigate deaths that are unexpected or unexplained. Their remit also includes deaths in custody.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

John Santi lays his brother's remains to rest after finding out museum displayed specimens without consent

A coronial investigation launched in Tasmania in 2016 has found the University of Tasmania removed and kept human remains without consent or approval. The investigation raises broader questions about collections of human remains in other universities and museums in Australia, and what obligation…

www.sbs.com.au

John Santi lays his brother's remains to rest after finding out museum displayed specimens without consent​

John's brother, Tony Santi, died in a motorcycle accident in Tasmania in the 1970s. Source: Supplied / John Santi

​

"The good memory was that he was my best friend. Not only a brother, he was my best friend when he died. I was only 13 when he died but he used to be more a confidant and I would go everywhere with him."

But raw grief has come up again this year for John and his family.

That's when they found out his brother's brain had been removed without consent at an autopsy after his death, and kept as part of a collection at the Rodda Museum at the University of Tasmania.

"One of the hardest parts is having to rebury him, so he's been burried twice. After 50 years I had to rebury his body part. That happened about three weeks ago. We went and laid that to rest with him. That's something we should never have had to do."