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HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962

HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - LONG TITLE

An Act to make provision with respect to the use of parts of
bodies of deceased persons for therapeutic purposes and purposes of
medical education and research and with respect to the circumstances
in which post-mortem examinations may be carried out; and to permit
the cremation of bodies removed for anatomical examination.
[20th December 1962]
Removal of parts of bodies for medical purposes.

HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - SECT 1

1.(1) If any person, either in writing at any time or orally in
the presence of two or more witnesses during his last illness, has
expressed a request that his body or any specified part of his
body be used after his death for therapeutic purposes or for
purposes of medical education or research, the person lawfully in
possession of his body after his death may, unless he has reason
to believe that the request was subsequently withdrawn, authorise the
removal from the body of any part or, as the case may be, the
specified part, for use in accordance with the request.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), the person lawfully in
possession of the body of a deceased person may authorise the
removal of any part from the body for use for the said purposes
if, having made such reasonable enquiry as may be practicable, he
has no reason to believe

(a)that the deceased had expressed an objection to his body being
so dealt with after his death, and had not withdrawn it; or

(b)that the surviving spouse or any surviving relative of the
deceased objects to the body being so dealt with.

(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), the removal and use of any
part of a body in accordance with an authority given in pursuance
of this section shall be lawful.

(4) No such removal shall be effected except by a registered
medical practitioner, who must have satisfied himself by personal
examination of the body that life is extinct.

(5) Where a person has reason to believe that an inquest may be
required to be held on any body or that a post-mortem examination
of any body may be required by the coroner, he shall not, except
with the consent of the coroner

(a)give an authority under this section in respect of the body; or

(b)act on such an authority given by any other person.

(6) No authority shall be given under this section in respect of
any body by a person entrusted with the body for the purpose only
of its interment or cremation.

(7) In the case of a body lying in a hospital, nursing home or
other institution, any authority under this section may be given on
behalf of the person having the control and management thereof by
any officer or person designated for that purpose by the
first-mentioned person.

(8) Nothing in this section shall be construed as rendering unlawful
any dealing with, or with any part of, the body of a deceased
person which is lawful apart from this Act.

HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - SECT 2
Post-mortem examinations.

2.(1) Without prejudice to section 15 of the Anatomy Act 1832
(which prevents that Act from being construed as applying to
post-mortem examinations directed to be made by a competent legal
authority) that Act shall not be construed as applying to any
post-mortem examination carried out for the purpose of establishing
or confirming the causes of death or of investigating the existence
or nature of abnormal conditions.

(2) No post-mortem examination shall be carried out otherwise than
by or in accordance with the instructions of a registered medical
practitioner, and no post-mortem examination which is not directed or
requested by the coroner or any other competent legal authority
shall be carried out without the authority of the person lawfully
in possession of the body; and section 1(2), (5), (6) and (7)
shall, with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to the
giving of that authority.

HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - SECT 3
Cremation of bodies after anatomical examination.

3. The provision to be made and the certificate to be transmitted
under section 13 of the Anatomy Act 1832 in respect of a body
removed for anatomical examination may, instead of being provision
for and a certificate of burial, as mentioned in that section, be
provision for the cremation of the body in accordance with any
enactment for the time being in force in Northern Ireland, and a
certificate of the cremation.

HUMAN TISSUE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - SECT 4
Short title.

4.(1) This Act may be cited as the Human Tissue Act (Northern
Ireland) 1962.

Subs.(2)(3) rep. by SLR 1973