Anatomy acts of California : a survey of former and present laws / by A.W. Meyer.

  • Arthur William Meyer
Date:
1935
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Anatomy acts of California : a survey of former and present laws / by A.W. Meyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/16 page 12
    Board of Health of the possession of the body of the indigent dead. 5. It forbids autopsies on such bodies without consent of the state board or its representative or representatives. 6. It makes it lawful to obtain fresh human tissue for microscopic investigation at time of a coroner’s autopsy. 7. It imposes the expense of burial upon rela¬ tives or friends who may claim the dead. 8. It makes noncompliance with its provisions a misdemeanor. Experience with the administration of the Act of 1927 confirmed the surmises of those especially concerned in the formulation of the bill. Hence an amendment was formulated in 1929 through Dean Millberry, the representative of the State Board of Health for Northern Institutions, and with the cooperation of that board, providing that the bodies of all unclaimed dead shall come directly into the custody of educational institu¬ tions at the place of death and stipulating that '‘No other acts or parts of acts shall be construed as limiting the powers of the State Department of Public Health in the transportation or distribu¬ tion of the indigent dead for educational pur¬ poses.” Since a single county with a population of only about 100,000 now buries more bodies annually at the expense of the taxpayers than are required by all the educational institutions of the state, it is evident that there is no dearth of the unclaimed dead. And since the people of California have, through their representatives in the legislature, repeatedly reaffirmed their wise decision to per¬ mit the use of the bodies of the unclaimed dead for educational and scientific purposes, no one should be permitted to stand in the way of the present law, for I do not believe that our people will become so benighted as to forbid the use of the dead for the instruction and help of the living. That would be more than suicidal, for the inno¬ cent also would suffer in consequence.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3