UK: Human Tissue Bill

The Queen’s speech announced that new legislation is to be introduced to revise the existing law on the retention and use of human tissue and organs.The Human Tissue Bill will implement changes following the Bristol, Alder Hey and Isaac Inquiries which highlighted serious failings in practices relating to organs, focusing on the failures of consultation with the relatives of deceased patients concerning the proposed retention and/or use of organs from the deceased patients - many of whom were children.

The Bill marks a major change in the law which, although having seen some changes with regard to issues such as the sale of human organs, has largely remained unchanged since the Human Tissue Act 1961. The 1961 Act has often been subject to criticism, largely with reference to the fact that it gives significant rights to the person ‘lawfully in possession of the body’, as a result of which hospitals have often been able to determine matters relating to the use and disposal of bodies of deceased patients. The Bill will repeal and replace the Human Tissue Act 1961 and also the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Organ Transplants Act 1989 as they relate to England and Wales.

The Bill will also introduce a regulatory regime in respect of activities involving human tissue and organs. In view of the amount of preparation anticipated for what is a major overhaul of the law and the corresponding healthcare practices it is not expected that the Bill will come into force before April 2005.

© RadcliffesLeBrasseur

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