§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the operation of the law in relation to the transplant of human tissue and that there is adequate provision for organs to be removed for transplant purposes without any possible need for the involvement of a coroner.
§ Mr. RaisonThe operation of the law on transplants—the Human Tissue Act 1961—is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, who informed me that he is satisfied with it and that in general few problems have arisen. The code of practice on removal of organs for transplantation, which has now been widely distributed within the National Health Service and sent to all coroners, sets out the position. Under the Human Tissue Act 1961 the hospital officer designated to authorise the removal of organs may do so if the deceased had previously 103W recorded a wish to donate organs—for example by signing a kidney donor card—or if after he has made such reasonable inquiry as is practicable he has no reason to believe that the deceased would have objected or that any surviving relative does object to such removal.
Where, however, there is reason to believe that an inquest or a post mortem examination of the body may be required the removal of any organs may not be authorised unless the coroner has given his consent. The means by which consent is obtained is a matter for local arrangement.
The coroner is under a statutory duty to inquire into deaths by violence, unnatural deaths and sudden deaths of unknown cause. Donors of organs for transplant purposes are often victims of road traffic accidents and in such a case an inquest must be held on the death. Removal of organs without the coroner's consent could hinder his inquiries into the death and, in some cases, subsequent criminal proceedings.