Clause 40 - Criminal justice purposes
Human Tissue Bill
9:30 am
Mr Harry Cohen (Leyton and Wanstead, Labour)
I appreciate that point, and I understand that a relatively high proportion of such post mortems would include brain removal, especially if people had had brain-related deaths. However, my understanding is that the brain is removed in about 45 per cent. of all post mortems. That seems excessively high.
I want to concentrate on the criminal justice aspect. At the time of Ronnie Kray's death, I read a report that his brain was removed and that he was buried without it. That caused a lot of offence to his family. Fred West also had his brain removed. We do not know what has happened in the case of Harold Shipman—I cannot ask because that is all sub judice at present. Fred West and Harold Shipman both hung themselves, so I do not understand why, in those circumstances, their brains should be removed.
I received an answer to my question from the Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy), who said:
''Under the Coroners Act 1988 and Coroners Rules 1984, a coroner undertaking a coroner's post mortem examination may remove and retain any organs or tissue that he/she deems relevant to the cause of death on his/her own authority alone. However, any organ or tissue removed in such cases may not be used for any other purpose unless separate authorisation is obtained.''—[Official Report, 4 June 2003; Vol. 406, c. 485W.]
That answer was welcome. However, I wonder whether coroners are qualified to make that decision. It seems that, particularly in the prison system, the process is driven by the pathologists, who want to undertake brain removal. The pathologists seem to be setting the trends.