§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her Department's policy towards the use by hospitals or medical research institutes of human corpses for scientific research into road accidents.
§ Mr. SackvilleBodies may be donated to licensed medical schools, either in accordance with donors' wishes or when the family has agreed, under the terms of the Anatomy Act 1984. This Act makes provision for the use of such bodies for the purposes of anatomical examination, which is defined in the Act as examination by dissection 243W for the purposes of teaching or studying or researching into morphology, that is, the study of the form—anatomy—of the body. This precludes the use of such bodies for scientific research into road accidents.
The Human Tissue Act 1961, which in specified circumstances and subject to the consent of the donor permits the use of bodies or parts of bodies for therapeutic purposes or for the purposes of medical education or research, does not preclude the use of bodies for medical research into road accidents.
However, many people will regard the placing of bodies in cars which are then crashed, which is reported to have happened in other countries, as unacceptable as part of medical research. Local research ethics committees, which would have to consider any proposed medical research into road accidents, would be expected to take this viewpoint into account.