NSW: Pathologists welcome ICAC report

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2001
NSW: Pathologists welcome ICAC report

SYDNEY, Aug 17 AAP - Pathologists have welcomed the findings of an inquiry into ethical
and criminal behaviour at one of Australia's biggest morgues.

Royal College of Pathologists president Professor David Davies said the Independent
Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) report released today made some valuable recommendations
at an important time in the restructuring of autopsy guidelines.

He welcomed the report's finding that pathologists had acted ethically while performing
autopsies at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Glebe.

The report also highlighted that legal infringements could have arisen as a consequence
of the complex relationships between the statutory laws that govern post-mortem examinations
- the Coroner's Act and the Human Tissue Act, he said.

"The report is extremely detailed, thoughtful and comprehensive and clearly recognises
the greater public good that forensic pathology and other associated disciplines provide,"

Prof Davies said.

"The inquiry and its findings make a useful contribution to the national review of
the Human Tissue Act and hopefully create an opportunity for the Coroner's Act to be similarly
reviewed."

AAP kp/nf/cd/bwl

KEYWORD: MORGUE PATHOLOGISTS

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.