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[This version of the report has been edited by Dr Robert N Moles
Underlining where it occurs is for editorial emphasis]

On 18 March 2001 the Channel 9 Sunday program reported on "The Body Snatchers". It dealt with the issues of body parts of deceased family members used without permission. Families deceived and kept in the dark. Medical researchers flouting the law. Insensitivity piled upon grief.

Sunday said that this was the shocking list of insults to bereaved families uncovered by Sunday's investigation of "The Body Snatchers".  This week on Sunday, Helen Dalley finds that many Australian families, already shattered by the death of their loved ones, have been treated with far less dignity in death than they deserved. Hospitals and morgues have routinely harvested body parts secretly taken during autopsies and used them for medical research or educational training. All without the consent of the relatives — and sometimes against their expressed wishes.

"We've been treated like dirt, haven't we?" one mother tells Sunday. "We've been treated as nothing, we're just somebody [whose] kid has gone into hospital, has died, [and we've been told] 'we've kept part of him, you have the rest'."

"They've violated her, they've taken away a part of her without our permission or knowledge," one grieving father says. "It's like they've raped her."
"It's got to be stopped," says a third parent. "As far as I'm concerned they are scavenging. But they're scavenging from bodies."

Sunday's investigations show the problems go far beyond the scope of a recent inquiry ordered by the NSW Minister for Health. Now, Sunday reports on serious allegations levelled at one of Australia's largest morgues, the Glebe Institute of Forensic Medicine — allegations that this morgue operated virtually as a body parts supermarket for medical researchers.

In a statement exclusive to Sunday, the Acting State Coroner of NSW, Jan Stevenson, raises concerns about the large number of brains being kept by Glebe Morgue. She asks whether any of these organs are improperly being used for research purposes. We also reveal that organs have been taken from the bodies of almost every murder victim taken to the Glebe Morgue — usually without the knowledge or consent of relatives.

And for the first time, Sunday also raises allegations by former staff at Glebe Morgue of bizarre forensic practices that could at best be described as abhorrent, if not illegal. Bones and body organs have been routinely removed for research projects by doctors from major Sydney hospitals, without the consent of relatives. Macabre practices include bodies being stabbed to replicate wounds and plastic surgeons practicing on the faces of corpses officially held for post mortems.

When the body parts scandal first broke in Britain last year, families there were shocked to hear that 100,000 organs had been stockpiled under the guise of "medical research" in at least 25 hospitals around the country. Sunday's investigation shows that Australia's record may be even worse.

Source: Channel 9 Sunday 18 March 2001 "The Body Snatchers" Reporter : Helen Dalley, Producer Anita Jacoby

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