The Tasmanian government has issued an apology for a decades-long practice in which body parts taken during autopsies were retained and displayed in a university pathology museum without the knowledge or consent of grieving families.
The apology was delivered in the Tasmanian parliament on Tuesday by health minister Bridget Archer as relatives of some of the deceased gathered in Hobart seeking accountability and answers over the scandal that stretched from 1966 to 1991.
The retained specimens were housed at the RA Rodda Museum of Pathology, established for teaching and medical research. A coroner’s investigation later found that 177 human specimens had been kept, with around 100 eventually identified.
“Although these historical practices ended 35 years ago, the deep impact this has had on the families and loved ones of the deceased continues to this day,” Ms Archer told parliament.
“It’s important to remember that these were not just body parts or specimens or human remains. They were people. They were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, brothers and sisters who were missed by their loved ones, and no doubt the pain of losing them has been exacerbated by what occurred later.”
The issue first came to public attention in 2016 after concerns were raised about specimens held at the museum. A coronial investigation launched in 2023 found that pathologists actively sourced organs and tissues during autopsies before transferring them to the museum without family permission or coronial approval.
Coroner Simon Cooper found the late forensic pathologist Royal Cummings had supplied most of the specimens to the museum. “However, it appears his predecessors and successors also engaged in the practice,” he said last year.
The specimens, including organs and tissue samples, were removed from display in 2018.
For many families, the apology re-opened decades-old grief.
John Santi was 13 when his brother Tony died in a motorcycle crash near Hobart in 1976 at the age of 19. Nearly 50 years later, he discovered that part of his brother’s brain had been retained without the family’s knowledge.
“To have to rebury your brother 50 years apart is inconceivable,” he said.
“And the day I did that, reburied his brain with him, was just so traumatic and it still is. And then now, since his brain’s been back there, it still doesn’t feel right,” he told the ABC.
Another family member, Cheryl Springfield, said learning that part of her 14-year-old brother’s body had been taken after he died in a car accident in 1976 left her family devastated.
“It’s triggered the grief, we’re reliving the grief,” she said. “It is ridiculous what they’ve put us through.”
Ms Springfield said the parliamentary apology was “in the right direction, but it’s not going to fix it all”.
Families questioned how the practice was allowed to continue for over 25 years without intervention.
“It’s just beyond comprehension how this could happen for over so many years and nobody supposedly knew,” one relative, identified only as Jack, told reporters outside the parliament.
“I’m here to get some answers and see whoever was involved to stand up and take responsibility.”
The Tasmanian health department has identified five individuals believed to have been involved in the practice in addition to Cummings. None remain employed by the department and two have since died.
The matter has been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration.
Graeme Zosky, deputy vice chancellor for health at the University of Tasmania, also apologised to the affected families.
“While we recognise an apology cannot fix the hurt and distress families have felt, we’re sorry,” he said.
