HC Deb 20 October 1975 vol 898 cc42-3W
Mr. Monro

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services under what powers hospital authorities can remove organs from deceased persons for transplant purposes without the permission of the next of kin; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Stott

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she considered it necessary to make any changes in the past year in the guidelines given to health authorities conocerning the Human Tissue Act 1961; and whether she will make a statement.

Dr. Owen

The use of parts of bodies of deceased persons for therapeutic purposes, e.g. transplantation, is governed by the Human Tissue Act 1961. The Act permits the person lawfully in possession of a dead body to authorise organ removal (i) if the deceased has during his lifetime requested that his body or parts of it should be so used; or (ii) where no such request has been made, if, having made such reasonable inquiry as may be practicable, he has no reason to believe that the deceased had expressed an objection to his body being so dealt with or that the surviving spouse or any surviving relative objects to the body being so dealt with.

A guidance circular issued to NHS authorities by the Department in June 1975 contained no differences of principle from the previous guidance circular issued by the then Ministry of Health in 1961. Both circulars advised that the "person lawfully in possession" of a body, when death occurs in hospital, is the authority responsible for the management of the hospital, until relatives or executors claim the body.

I have also during the year stated my opinion that where the deceased is found to be carrying a signed kidney donor card authority for the removal of kidneys may be given without further reference to relatives. Such action would accord with the provisions of the Human Tissue Act 1961. Doctors wishing to talk to relatives in such circumstances for ethical reasons would not be prevented from doing so.