Body parts taken for decades without consent, for display at UTAS museum, coroner finds

Pathologists working in Tasmania between 1966 and 1991 may have "actively sourced" body parts from coronial autopsies to give to a museum without the knowledge or consent of families — or of the coroners who were responsible for the bodies when the specimens were taken — a coroner has found.

Coroner Simon Cooper has released his findings from an investigation into 177 specimens held in the collection of the R A Rodda Museum of Pathology at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

The investigation started in 2016, after the museum contacted the Coroners' Office with concerns about three specimens it had in its collection that appeared to have been retained without the consent of families or the coroner.

"It appears at this stage that now-dead forensic pathologist Dr Royal Cummings was the