Medics Took Thousands of Brains Without Consent

[schadeaux]

Medics Took Thousands of Brains Without Consent

Tue May 13, 9:18 AM ET

By Gideon Long

LONDON (Reuters) - British pathologists removed the brains from tens of thousands of human corpses over a period of 30 years without the permission of the victims' relatives, the government acknowledged on Monday.

In a sinister reminder of scandals in the late 1990s, when hospitals were found to have secretly kept the hearts of dead children for research purposes, the government said the illicit removal of brains had been "widespread in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s."

STORY

[Vox]

Understatement of the century...

"No ethics please, we're British."

[Kismit]

Vox it's not just the British A New Zealand Hospital was exposed about 2 years ago for removing the hearts from dead babies without parental consent . Who needs ethics when we have Science .

[SpaceyKC]

The idea was probably thought up over here. Some places don't

even bury or cremate the bodies, just dump them like trash. I think

that's worse than taking parts (as bad as that is).

[Burgundy Johnson]

That's sick! Not only are you insulting the family members, you are insulting the poor human being that died!

[Sidhe]

I don't know that it's all *that* bad. Since I believe the spirit survives death, and consider the spirit sacrosanct, but not the body, I don't have as much trouble as some of you. I do think you ought to inform people such a thing might happen, but I also recognize that most people just object to it spontaneously.

But it is exactly this impulse of science which gives us the Dr. Frankenstein myth..

Of course, in case anyone gets the wrong idea, I object to people mistreating the body when the spirit is still in it!

[Ronin6th]

We've heard about this story here...

[bigsteff]

LONDON (Reuters) - British pathologists removed the brains from tens of thousands of human corpses over a period of 30 years without the permission of the victims' relatives, the government acknowledged on Monday.

as if we didn't know this already....i mean you ever tried talking to a politician

[Kismit]

Sidhe , I have nothing against the use of human body parts for scientific research . I am an Organ donor and I believe that without these studies our Dr's may well still be practising in the dark ages .I really could care less what happens to my body when I die , as I won't be there to worry about it . However alot of people believe that the body must be intact for a spirit to reach heaven in one piece . I believe there beliefs should be taken into consideration , people should be asked. I know you made this same point I just wanted to clarify my view point on the whole matter.

[Vox]

There is no way that I'd ever give up my body for research, since I know way too much as too what happens inside dissection rooms. The best part is students just laughing as they poke and prod and slice at bodies, with no consideration that this person was once someones daughter/wife/mother/sister/etc. It truly sickens me to the core that it might be my mother on that table whilst those damn doctor wannabes have a laugh.