The legal and ethical framework governing body donation in Europe - 2nd update on current practice

Abstract

Background: In 2008, members of the TEPARG provided first insights into the legal and ethical framework governing body donation in Europe. In 2012, a first update followed. This paper is now the second update on this topic and tries to extend the available information to many more European countries.

Methods: For this second update, we have asked authors from all European countries to contribute their national perspectives. By this enquiry, we got many contributions compiled in this paper. When we did not get a personal contribution, one of us (EB) searched the internet for relevant information.

Results: Perspectives on the legal and ethical framework governing body donation in Europe.

Conclusions: We still see that a clear and rigorous legal framework is still unavailable in several countries. We found national regulations in 18 out of 39 countries; two others have at least federal laws. Several countries accept not only donated bodies but also utilise unclaimed bodies. These findings can guide policymakers in reviewing and updating existing laws and regulations related to body donation and anatomical studies.

Keywords: Anatomical research; Body donation; Body procurement; Teaching of anatomy.