Measures to guarantee respect for dead bodies. Within the framework of the bioethics law, a decree published on Thursday 28 April in Official newspaper specifies a number of conditions for bequeathing one’s body to science and sets the obligations of the organizations that receive them. The text comes two years after the government’s promise to legislate on the issue following the scandal born of the discovery of a “mass grave” at the University of Paris-Descartes.
Installation of an ethics committee
After receiving documentation from the facility authorized to receive bodies, the person must consent to this donation “by a written statement in full, dated and signed by him”, says the decree, which comes into effect on Friday, April 29.
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The text also specifies the methods for transporting and receiving the bodies, the conditions for carrying out funeral operations, returning the body or the ashes and the conditions for authorization and operation of the establishments benefiting from the donations. It also provides for the establishment within these establishments of a “ethics, scientific and educational committee responsible for issuing an opinion on training programs and research projects requiring the use of donated bodies”.
“Indecent” storage conditions
Following the Paris-Descartes scandal. the government announced last year that the regulations on centers for the donation of bodies to science would be overhauled, as part of the bioethics bill adopted in June 2021.
In 2019, the weekly L’Express had revealed that the body donation center of this university had received in “indecent conditions” the remains of “thousands of people” having donated their bodies to science. The investigation subsequently opened revealed “inertia” managers of the prestigious Parisian institution for several decades. These revelations led to four indictments last year, including those of the Parisian university and its former president for “attack on the integrity of a corpse”.